Disclaimer: It's JK Rowlings... I'm jealous, but its all hers. I am just glad we get to play in the wonderland she created!
Back to the Ministry
"Well?" Rowan asked as she entered the room later.
"You could have brought him out years ago," she said finally turning to face her mom, "you knew he had fallen into the veil, and you left him there."
"One, I did not know about the veil until the summer I came here. Two, and understand this Madison, I could not have done anything. It is beyond MY powers to do so. I never had the ability to bring him back. Did you miss the elevated part? Maybe forgot to read the number seven? I don't even have that many personalities." Her daughter nodded. The others entered behind Rowan without her notice; "Three, and get this one through your thick skull, I love your father. I never stopped loving him. Through over fifteen years of believing he was dead and buried in America, I could not bring myself to be with someone else. I have NEVER loved anyone else like that. But he made his choices. He made the decisions that took him from us. Do not make this my fault."
Madison stood. "But you knew we could bring him back!"
"Maybe at some point in the future yes, but honestly, after everything that has happened, I don't know that I want him back, Mads. You don't know what he was like. You only know what they told you about him and they didn't know him well. I remember vividly the dark times. How fast he sank into that pit and let himself drown in it. You didn't have to watch it. You don't understand what it's like to love someone and not be able to be enough for him to come back." Mason had stepped back from the two women's argument, "Look, I know you want a father. I understand that. I never wanted anything less for you. But Sirius Black made the choices that tore us apart. He made the deaths of our two friends more important than our family. We would have ended up with Harry AND Neville if he would have made different choices. Everything would have been different. I can't go back. Not now. Not after all this…"
Remus opened the door, slipped in quietly and sat at the end of the table. Looking into his eyes for a moment, Madison asked with a cutting tone, "After you took his best friend and his enemy into your bed?"
Remus could not allow this to continue. Standing, he walked around the table toward the girl he considered one of his own. "That was not fair. You don't know anything about what she has lived through."
Rowan had kept her physical distance from her daughter; knowing what was going to happen if she moved too close. Madison was magically stronger than she was and bluffing was the only way to keep Madison from figuring it out. "Do not judge me little girl --you have no right to judge anything I do."
"Remus, you stay out of this." She pushed past him and walked toward her mother, "As for you, Mother, what makes you say I don't have the RIGHT? I am a flipping SORCERESS mother I have EVERY RIGHT! There is no excuse for leaving my father in Hell!" Her words were callous and cold as they hit her mother with the full force she meant to send with them. The onlookers watched as though they were watching a ping-pong tournament.
Taking a deep breath, Rowan tried to find a calm voice to use on her daughter,"You have less than two years with magical powers. You had six months of intense research. That title was a gift because of the defeat of Voldemort. None of you deserved it except Harry. It was bestowed on you because of your involvement. You are my daughter FIRST - and regardless of anything else, you do not have a right to judge me. You did not live through the hell I have. You don't understand the first thing about what happened to me. Very few do. One of them is dead, and the other is now standing behind you. But you know what? Do what you choose."
She paused to catch her breath. "I love Remus. Bring me up on charges of adultery if you choose. Bring Sirius back and get to know him. But do not judge me for what I did when he CHOSE to leave us. I gave up EVERYTHING to protect you and your brother. His mother would have killed me, taken you into Grimmauld Place and reared you to worship Voldemort. This would not even be a conversation if I had not chosen to leave England, Madison. You know it, I know it, and they know it too. They have met the portrait of Mrs. Black? The foul thing was NOTHING compared to her in real life; her and that God-forsaken house elf. She hated me. She wanted you. She wanted your powers to present to the Dark Lord. She hated Sirius. But she knew you two were the keys."
"And?"
"And what?
"And you justify running, binding our powers and yours, having your memory wiped, leaving Harry, rearing us in Texas with NO magic, and leaving our father to ROT in prison for twelve years? You can justify knowing that we can bring him out of the veil and return him; but you didn't tell us? You know we have to do it. At some point, mother, we have to do it. He will be the one to save our children. What would you do then? Spring it on us? Come on, make some sense to me."
"I owe you nothing. I cannot change the past. I do not know the future. I am not the seer. That was Catrina. I thought we dealt with this during counseling last year. Or was I alone?"
"We never discussed it. So tell me now, how is it that you could you have slept with Sirius' best friend?"
"He and I share a history that is NONE of your business."
"What about Snape?"
"Snape and I would probably have married if not for the memory of Sirius." Remus eyes showed the hurt of her statement. "I have no regrets about the time I was given with him. He saved my life several times over. He rescued me from myself many times more. He was a kind and gentle man and I do not regret my time with him."
"And what of Remus?" She hear her werewolf growl behind her.
"I love Remus and he is not the issue here. I do not owe any of you any explanations regarding my relationship with him. I am a grown woman. He is a grown man. I don't ask you about your sex life with Draco do I? I don't tell you how to live or judge your actions. Why are you judging mine? What's the difference? None of it occurred while you were in the same house, or castle, or whatever you want to call it. You have never walked in and found a man in my bed. I was faithful to your father when I could not even remember why we were apart… When I did get those memories back, I ached for his touch. Then I was kidnapped and rescued; then I just ached. You don't know about what it was like during that time… THEY DID." Rounding on the others, she continued to yell, "NONE OF YOU UNDERSTAND!"
"I do." Draco said quietly when she took a breath. Everyone in the room looked at him. He found his courage and spoke again, "I was there. I saw you. I know what they did to you."
"What do you mean, 'you were there'?" Rowan asked.
"Severus was summoned a few days before he got you out of there. He was told to bring me as my father was unable to attend. The Dark Lord wanted me to see what he did to those who did not do as he asked." He went on to tell them without graphic details about the scene he witnessed.
Madison's tears matched Harry's. Mason's face was inscrutable. No one spoke. No one asked for additional details as he finished speaking. He looked into the face of the woman he respected above all others for what she had survived, and knew that her daughter and son would never forgive him for not helping her right away. He looked once again into Rowan's face and apologized.
She nodded. "So one of you have some idea. Is that enough for the rest of you not to judge me?" No one answered. "No I didn't think so. Don't worry about it Draco, I didn't know and it doesn't matter now, apparently." Exhaling slowly, she continued, "Remus and Severus filled a need of safety that Sirius was not around to meet. And just so you all know, had he been around, he would not have helped me. He would not have been the one to rush in and save me. Once he knew what was happening to me, he would have left me. He will hate me when you bring him back. I doubt he will look at me again, let alone touch me. He will loath me for everything that has happened. You don't get it… We are bound, and he will not speak, look or touch me once he knows."
"So you left him there because you think he might hate you and not want to be with you anymore? You left him in hell because you are afraid of his reaction to your choices?" Madison asked dangerously.
"You don't know that side of him; none of you do. Harry, you had him as a God father for what? A total of three years?" Harry nodded. "And let me see, one of those you thought he killed your parents. So you actually had him less than that. I had him in my life since I was fourteen. I married him at 17 - SEVENTEEN! At eighteen, I watched him leave me and enter the Auror program with your father, Frank, and Alice. They came home for a month. Then they left Alice, me and Lily pregnant to pursue their dreams. Lily was to be a healer. Alice had been accepted into the Auror program as well, she finished after Neville was born. When Sirius came back… James was always more important that I was. When I got pregnant with Madison, he was only home a week. We were only together ONCE before he went back to finish.
"Don't you realize that I was never important to him? He loved you, Harry, and Mason. He worshipped the ground Madison laid on. But that went away when your parents were killed Harry. It all tumbled out of control." Turning on her daughter, she finally added. "Do what you want. He will tell you exactly what I have about our past. Bring him back; but the second he leaves the veil, stun him. Bring him back here and let him have Remus next to him. Do not try to talk to him first. He won't understand; but when you do talk to him - TELL HIM THE TRUTH AS YOU KNOW IT. You don't know everything, but God forbid you might wait until you do before telling him." And with that advice, she left the room for the eight to figure out what to do next.
Remus walked to the girl. "You have no right to do this Madison. You have hurt her beyond forgiveness. I will never forgive you for hurting her like this."
Crossing her arms, she told him coldly, "And I don't care if you do."
Remus looked her up and down once more before giving the most disgusted look he could manage adding, "One day you will..." as he walked from the room.
One week later, the Seven entered the Ministry of Magic. They had only briefly consulted Dumbledore. Neither Remus nor Rowan would not speak to any of them, nor had they seen her to any great extent since the argument.
They had chosen to bring Sirius Black out of the veil with or without her help and guidance. Remus helped her with her plans as did Molly and Arthur. When the day came, they were ready to face the youth.
When the seven entered the Department of Mysteries Veil Room, they were met by Rowan, Remus, and Albus, as well as Molly and Arthur. Rowan spoke quietly, "Before you do this, you must listen to the story behind the veil." She slipped her hand in Remus' for a brief moment, leaving three pieces of paper in his. He slipped them in his robe without looking at them.
Albus spoke next. It was obviously decided among the adults. Ron wondered if it had been rehearsed as well. "The veil was found just over 1400 years ago, by the same three friends of which you already know. In an attempt of capture, they lured the demon to its powers. When it was vanquished, the demonic soul entered into the Veil. It is nothing more than a holding area. Over the centuries, there have been other evils which have entered as well. As far as we know, Sirius was the first live human to enter the veil, he may not have been, but we do know that he was the last one."
"What you should understand is that he spent twelve years in Azkaban; then three years on the run, and another three years now in the company of demons. He may not be the same as when he left. He may remember EVERYTHING he has seen there."
"Please reconsider bringing him back, Harry." Remus begged.
"We have weighed the possibilities. We all have our reasons for his return. There was only one in opposition, Draco, but his love for Madison outweighed his hesitations."
The adults stood back. Rowan met eyes with Remus for a brief second before turning to see the seven raise their right hands, while their left hands were on the shoulder beside them. In unison they said the simple request they had learned in the Cowan journal, "RELEASE HE WHO SHOULD NOT BE WITHIN. BRING FORTH THE ONE WHO ENTERED IN BODY."
They waited. The ground shook for a moment, and the veil fluttered; Remus half-hoped that nothing would happen. But after several agonizing moments, the veil flew up and over the Dias. Albus waited. The plan was now set in motion. A white hand gripped the edge and strained to pull its weight out.
Rowan walked to the Dias, reaching to the hand and pulling with every bit of strength she possessed. She placed both feet on the edge and heaved the hand out of the darkness.
She fell with a thud as Sirius Black fell on top of her. With closed eyes, she wrapped her arms around him and muttered 'portus'. The others watched as she and her husband left the Department of Mysteries.
"WHERE ARE THEY?" Harry and Madison demanded in unison.
Arthur squared his shoulders. "I dropped the wards surrounding this room to allow her to take HER HUSBAND somewhere. He must be evaluated before we can allow him to be near the greatest powers in the wizarding world."
"Where did she take him?"
"That, we do not know; only that it is somewhere secure. She prepared it herself." Professor Dumbledore said gently, "Everyone go home. She will return him to you when he is ready."
No one was happy. Anger radiated from every pore of Madison and Harry's bodies. Molly was almost afraid of her children at that moment, but refused to show it. Mason seemed resigned as he trusted his mother.
Draco wanted to get Madison's mind off of what had just happened. He suggested dinner as he prepared himself for one of her temper tantrums. She took his hand and apparated away. Ginny and Harry left together, as did Ron and Hermione. Mason left with a nod to return to Katie's side. He always felt better when he was with her.
The adults watched them leave; when finally they were left alone, Albus sat on a bench. He looked at the Veil, which now fluttered quietly.
Remus walked to the door and left the room. Molly and Arthur sat next to their mentor. "What have we allowed them to do?" Albus asked no one in particular, before muttering. "It's going to be a long year."
"We had no say in it. Madison is as headstrong as her mother and father combined. I swear Mason is the only one in the family with a brain."
The three laughed quietly as they left the Department of Mysteries. Molly would return to the construction site of the Burrow, Albus to the school and Arthur to his Ministerial duties.