Unspoken
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
By the time his surroundings manifested in front of his eyes, Harry realised that Croaker's office was full with people in their Unspeakable robes. He only recognised one smaller figure, who instantly made her way over to him and threw herself at him without taking note of the dove on his shoulder.
"Paws, thank Merlin, you're back safely!"
"Easy, young lady. Don't squash my wife," James lightly admonished her, carefully taking the dove onto his arm.
"Oh, I am sorry. Are you all right?" Connie immediately apologized and accompanied James to a part of the office that was less crowded, so that Lily could transform back.
"Everything is fine," she replied, smiling.
"Croaker, should we perhaps proceed to our team room? We'll have more space in there."
To Harry's surprise, Croaker shook his head. "I am sorry, Felina, but that's not possible. While I agree having Dove work with Team 13, I'd rather add her husband with a still to be defined Unspeakable name to Team 5."
'What?' Harry thought in disbelief, feeling extremely disappointed; however, he knew better than to contradict.
"Dove and Paws, please remain for a moment."
Harry inwardly grinned upon realising that Connie stayed at his side, together with Lucy. Croaker apparently did not mind.
Turning to Lily and James, Croaker explained, "If you wish to join the Unspeakables, you need to swear on your magic to follow the rules."
"We will, sir." Lily smiled.
"First of all, I'd like to know what these rules are. My wife is pregnant, and if there is anything that might endanger her or the baby, I'd have to refuse."
Harry let out a small snort.
"What?" James glared at him.
"Felina is pregnant, too, and it doesn't matter," Harry replied, shaking his head in annoyance.
Croaker sighed. "Paws, there is a small difference. As you know, all newbies must attend classes with Devil." When James let out a small gasp, he explained, "Devil is our trainer. However, we can forego training with Devil for Dove. I believe that Felina and Whisker will take you under their wings like they did with Paws, when he joined us almost six years ago."
He sighed again. "I am sorry for adding you to different teams, but this is for a reason, which you might understand at a later time. You must not exchange knowledge between teams 5 and 13, and other than your direct teammates, Paws and myself, no one must know who you are, even if the members of team 13 are aware of your identities, as they all assisted Paws in bringing you here. We have living quarters for Unspeakables, who for one or the other reason, mostly because they're assumed dead, cannot live outside of the Unspeakables' quarters. I will assign you an apartment, where you can live together, unless you make other arrangements with Buckbean, one of the goblins at Gringotts, who is one of our own. You can, and your teams including Buckbean will assist you in this, make new identities for yourselves, which will allow you to venture outside."
"That would be highly appreciated." James nodded.
"James." Lily seemed pensive. "wasn't Buckbean our account manager at Gringotts?"
James nodded. "Yes, that's good. So he knows the truth?"
"Yes." Harry was the first to respond.
"Croaker, could I perhaps take Rudi as my Unspeakable name, considering that I'm a stag Animagus?"
Connie chuckled. "That's brilliant."
Harry nodded, smiling. "A stag Animagus? Can you show us, please?"
"I will, but not here. I'm too large for this office."
"Very well, Dove and Rudi, do you accept the conditions, and will you swear me your oath?"
To Harry's relief, not only Lily but also James agreed. They swiftly swore their oaths, causing bright, golden glows to surround them, as the oaths took effect.
"Very well, Dove and Rudi, welcome to the Unspeakables' office. Turtle, will you please fetch some Unspeakable robes for them?"
Connie nodded and left the room only to return a minute later carrying two sets of grey robes.
"Thank you, Turtle. Will you take Dove to team room 13 then please?"
"Of course, Croaker. Come, Dove. Let's go. They're all thrilled to meet you."
Harry was just about to follow his wife and birth mother to team room 13, when Croaker kept him back.
"I believe that Dove will be in good hands with your teammates for a moment. In fact, you have proven to become a worthy successor of mine much sooner than expected, and from now on, I wish to make you my apprentice. You will still belong to team 13 of course; however, on occasions, I shall introduce you to the other teams. Today, this is the occasion for me to introduce you to team 5."
Harry stared at the head Unspeakable in surprise, when he continued, "As you know, you must not talk to your own team members about what you learn from team 5 or any other team, and neither reveal your team secrets to anyone outside your team. Now, while you will get to know their identities, you must not reveal yours. You are now Mini Head Unspeakable Paws. Do you understand me?"
Harry nodded. "Yes sir."
James' eyes narrowed. "Excuse me, Croaker. Is Harry not going to attend Hogwarts in a few months' time?"
Croaker nodded. "Yes, Rudi, Paws will, of course, attend Hogwarts, even if I believe that he'll be incredibly bored, considering his education to date. He will, however, still attend his team's meeting once a week and in addition have a weekly meeting with me."
"Won't his friends miss him?"
Croaker let out what sounded like a small snort. "Remember, we're Unspeakables. We'll see to it that no one misses him."
'Thank Merlin, so I'll be able to meet Connie at least once a week,' Harry thought in relief. He quickly sent the information to Connie, who returned a mental chuckle.
'We'll be able to meet on a daily basis. Felina and Whisker told me about it, but I'm not allowed to tell you, as they said it's going to be a birthday surprise for you.'
'My birthday is still months away,' Harry thought back, feeling Connie's amusement through the connection to her.
HP
With Lucy walking close to him, Harry absentmindedly followed Croaker and Rudi though the halls to a door which was labelled with a large '5'. 'I wonder who is in team 5 and if they'll have second identities like Felina and Whisker.'
Croaker knocked and, as soon as he received a response, led them into the room. "Hello Team 5. Today, I have a new member for you. This is Rudi. Rudi, these are Ra, Raros, Mento and Mento and Meta."
The five members of the team uttered friendly sounding greetings, before Croaker continued. "I also wish to introduce my apprentice as of today, Mini Head Unspeakable Paws and his familiar, Lucy. Paws is a member of team 13, and in spite of his very young age has been a member of the Unspeakables for almost six years. Please introduce yourselves to Rudi and Paws, but please note that Paws is not allowed to reveal his identity."
"Thank you, Croaker," Harry replied, smiling, even if no one would be able to see his smile under his hood.
"Rudi, feel free to come to my office at any time. Please come to see me, when you're finished here for today, so that I can show you to your apartment." Turning to the team, he explained, "Rudi and his wife have had a very strenuous day, and he's not going to have lessons with Devil today."
The team members voiced their understanding, and Croaker left.
Harry observed with interest how the team members lowered their hoods. There was one really old wizard, one wizard who was about the age of Felina and Whisker, two wizards who seemed to be twins and were a little older and one very young witch, who had green hair, which she turned to pink in apparent surprise, when Rudi lowered his hood.
"Uncle Arcturus and Cousin Regulus." James stared at the brother of his late mother and Sirius' brother in apparent disbelief. "I thought you were both dead."
The man, who seemed to be Regulus, chuckled. "We could say the same about you. Did Lily come here as well?"
James nodded. "Yes, but she's in team 5. Does Sirius know?..."
"No." The old wizard, Arcturus, replied in a strict voice. "He mustn't know that you're alive either."
'Poor Sirius, poor Dad,' Harry thought, deciding to ask Rebecca if they could add Lily and James to their extended family, considering that Remus and Sirius would be over the moon with joy to know that their best friend was alive. 'Dad will probably really need their support to get to terms with things,' he thought. 'Otherwise, he might really mess up things.'
HP
In the team room of team 13, Lily AKA Dove received a very warm greeting. Everyone knew who she was and seemed happy that Harry had succeeded in bringing her to the future, alive at that.
"Rebecca and Artemis." Lily addressed her two former classmates, who had been the Ravenclaw prefects, while she was prefect for Gryffindor, in delight. "Harry told me that it was you who took him to his new mother, who seems to have done a brilliant job raising him. I can't thank you enough for what you did for him."
Rebecca sighed, before she informed her about Dumbledore's actions immediately following her death.
"He made himself Harry's guardian and placed him with my horrible sister and her even worse husband? How dare he?"
"At the age of five, I took him away from them, and ever since then, he has been living with Regina, my sister." Rebecca told her everything about Regina and their extended family.
Artemis cleared his throat. "Do you have made plans what to do in this time apart from working with us?"
Lily shook her head. "No. Everything was so very sudden and unbelievable…" She slowly trailed off.
Artemis nodded in apparent understanding. "I suggest that you join us together with your husband at Regina's home. Together with Harry's extended family, we'll be able to make up a new identity for the two of you."
"I'd appreciate it. Sorry for asking, but who exactly belongs to what you called Harry's extended family?"
Rebecca smirked. "Regina of course, Artemis and me as well as Connie and her parents, Remus, Sirius and his wife Amelia as well as Minerva McGonagall. The later four have all given us oaths to keep any Unspeakables' secrets they might learn while talking to us. As Connie's parents are muggles, I have placed them under adequate charms to keep our secrets. Therefore, it is safe for you and James to speak with the extended family. You must not reveal any secrets of the Unspeakables, but they may at least know about your identity if you wish so."
Lily nodded. "Yes please."
"You will like Regina," Connie reassured her. "She's very nice."
"As soon as you have decided on your new identities, please come to see me. I suggest to not use any of the Potter properties, as the house-elves will be able to recognise you, even if you look differently. I can assist, however, if you decide to purchase a new property under your new identity."
"Thank you, Buckbean. I really appreciate your help."
"I shall leave for Gringotts then. I expect to see you tomorrow at the latest." With that, the goblin pulled his hood over and vanished from the spot.
"Thank you all so very much." Somehow, Lily could not help feeling overwhelmed to what lengths they had all gone helping Harry to save their lives.
Just then, an Unspeakable stuck his head through the door. "Dove, I am just going to take Rudi to Croaker. Will you come with us?"
"Please come in for a moment." Rebecca ushered Harry inside. "Please tell Croaker that we're going to discuss what Dove and Rudi are going to do with the extended family after lunch today. Bring both, Dove and Rudi, to the canteen to have lunch with us."
"With team 13?" Harry sounded surprised.
"Exceptional events sometimes require exceptional actions." Rebecca smirked.
"All right. Dove?"
Lily nodded, still feeling confused by the abrupt changes her life had taken during the last less than twenty-four hours. "I'm coming. Thank you all." Pulling up her hood, she followed her son outside into the corridor, smiling upon seeing that James as Rudi was waiting for them together with Lucy. She observed in amusement how her husband busied himself caressing Lucy's ears.
"He's quite good at it," Paws quipped. "That's just the way how she likes it."
"My best friend is a dog Animagus." Rudi sounded devastated at the loss of his friends.
Lily inwardly sighed. 'It's not going to be easy with him. I'll really have to make sure that he appreciates Harry and the others who saved our lives and that he'll keep to the rules. I hope that Rebecca and Artemis will allow him to at least tell Sirius the truth. He would be able to get through to him.'
HP
Hearing from him that team 13 was going to help Dove and Rudi make up new identities, Croaker simply showed the new Unspeakables to their living quarters, which were situated in a wing that Harry had never entered before.
"Feel free to live here as long as you wish. We have several Unspeakables who have been living here for many years. Please come to see me tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest to inform me about your new identities outside the Unspeakables' office."
"We will do so. Probably tomorrow morning, as it was already late in the evening, before we came here. Thank you so much for everything."
'My birth mother seems really nice,' Harry thought, looking up, startled, when Croaker addressed him.
"Paws, considering that you had a strenuous day as well, I want you to remain at home after your team discussion and enjoy your afternoon."
"Thank you, sir," Harry replied, obediently, thinking for himself that he would make sure that his birth parents were all right before considering doing anything else.
HP
After lunch, Felina and Whisker took Dove and Rudi with them to Regina's home, instructing Paws and Turtle to join them.
"Paws," Archie kept him back. "From tomorrow onwards, I suggest that we continue our research for the position brooms."
Harry nodded, eagerly. "Oh right, we should do that. I wonder for which position we should make one first. I don't know much about the other positions."
"Rudi might be able to give you some advice. He was a Chaser while being at Hogwarts," Dove informed him, right before Felina popped away with her.
'A Keeper broom might be better, as we only have to donate two, while there will be six Chasers in a match,' Connie silently informed him, just when he arrived at home with Lucy in tow.
'That's true,' he thought back, appreciating her input.
HP
When Rebecca, Artemis, Harry, Connie, Lily, James and Regina were gathered in the living room, Artemis glanced at his wrist watch.
"If there's anything you need me for, we'll have to discuss that first, as I really need to return to Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts?" James looked at his former classmate in disbelief. "What are you doing at Hogwarts?"
Artemis smirked, before he changed into Argus Filch. "I am the old, Squib caretaker at Hogwarts. Have you already thought of names for your new identity?"
Lily shook her head. "Artemis, no, sorry, everything was just so sudden and occurred so fast…"
Artemis nodded in understanding. "That's fine. Rebecca and I had some more time and have a few suggestions to make."
Lily and James nodded in apparent gratefulness. "Thank you, Rebecca and Artemis. We appreciate it."
"What do you think of Rose and Jamie Smith?" Rebecca looked from Lily to James in apparent expectation.
"Doesn't that sound too muggle?" James frowned.
"Look at me." Regina sighed. "I am the Lady Lestrange, but then, I am only a Squib.
"You're a Squib? Oh my, I wouldn't have known."
"Thank you, Lily." Regina smiled. "Did you know that Connie is a muggle?"
Harry inwardly grinned, when his parents stared at Connie in obvious surprise. As she had taken off her Unspeakable robes, she was now dressed in blue jeans, a white blouse and dark blue robes, almost as if she was ready to become a first-year student at Hogwarts.
"I wouldn't have known. You're extremely well adapted."
"Connie has been training with the Unspeakables together with me for more than five years," Harry explained, somehow feeling very proud of Connie, the first and best friend he ever had.
"Are you Harry's wife?" James enquired. "Was it Flamel? Someone told us that Harry married a muggle girl at the age of ten."
Connie grinned. "That's me, yes, but he did not marry me recently. When we were five, he cast some kind of bonding spell at me, which the magical world recognised as marriage spell."
"At the age of five?" James stared at her, wide-eyed.
"He's definitely your son," Lily quipped, causing James to glare at her.
"Now, listen, Lils, you're my first and only wife."
"That's true." Rebecca chuckled. "I remember all too well how all the girls of our year were after him, except for Lily, but he only had eyes for her. "But, I believe that we're drifting off topic. What are Mr. and Mrs. Smith going to do? Where are they going to live, and will they work with the Unspeakables full-time, or will they have another job, be it in the magical or the muggle world?"
"Before we came here, I've done some Potions research besides looking after Baby Harry. Would it be possible to continue my research while working for the Unspeakables?"
Rebecca nodded. "Oh, yes, please. We absolutely need your assistance for our own research, especially as none of us is a Potions master or mistress. We'd be grateful if you worked with us full time. Jamie, what about you?"
"I worked as an Auror. Together with Sirius and Amelia. We just only finished Auror training a few months ago."
"Do you wish to return to the Aurors? Remember though that they can only know that you're an Unspeakable but not about your real identity."
James let out a deep sigh. "Are Sirius and Meli still working with the Aurors?"
Rebecca nodded. "Sirius is an Auror, and Amelia is head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They're married. I don't know if anyone told you?"
"They are?" James grinned broadly. "That's cool." He remained pensive for a moment, before he decided, "No, I won't return to the Aurors. It would be difficult to not give us away somehow. I'll just work with my team full-time. At least for the beginning."
'It'll be good for him,' Harry thought in relief. 'At least, he already knows them from before and is even related to some of them.'
"Rebecca? Do you have much more urgent matters to discuss with them?" Regina cast Lily a concerned look. "I believe that our time travellers are dead on their feet."
"Of course." She reached into her robe pocket and pulled out two thin, golden necklaces, which she handed to their guests. "If you put these on, they will be invisible to everyone but the two of you, and it will change your appearance, so that no one will be able to recognise you, even if you're not wearing your Unspeakable robes."
Harry watched in amusement how they both slowly put on their necklaces, looking at each other. 'Wow,' he thought, when Lily suddenly looked like a twin sister of Rebecca, however, with green eyes. His father somehow resembled Artemis."
"Cool," he uttered in amazement.
Lily nodded. "Yes, it is. Thank you so much for all you have done for us."
"You're very welcome. Now, do you know how to get back to your quarters?"
"I'll take them." Harry held out his pendant. "Ah, no, that won't work, as it'll take us right into the room of team 13. We'll have to go through the fireplace."
"Harry, you've done enough for today," Regina protested in a soft voice. "Let Rebecca take them."
Her sister immediately agreed and motioned for them to pull their Unspeakable robes over, before she led them to the fireplace.
HP
"Well done, Harry." Regina smiled. "Are you happy?"
Harry let out a deep sigh. "Yes, of course. I feel…"
"Accomplished?" Connie grinned.
"Yes, that." Harry nodded, gratefully. "But, I had some fights with my father even before I took them here."
"Why might that be?" Regina nodded, encouragingly, for Harry to explain.
"I refused to call Lily Mum, because you're my mum now. So, I called her Lily, which he did not like at all. I don't think Lily minded, or at least, she could understand. She seems to be very nice. I hope we can introduce my Dad to Sirius and Remus. He'll be happier then."
Regina smiled. "I think Rebecca intended to introduce them to the whole extended family, but they were exhausted, and we have all the time of the world. We can introduce them on Sunday, when everyone is going to come over anyway. We need to give them time to adjust, and they'll do fine."
"Oh well, we left late in the evening and arrived here in the morning." Harry shrugged.
"Regina?" Connie cast her a questioning look. "Do you know if it affords magic to learn Occlumency?"
"What is Occlumency?" Harry looked from Connie to his mother in confusion.
Connie shrugged. "I think you learn to keep your mind safe from mind reading."
Regina nodded. "Yes, it is the art of protecting your mind from Legilimency. Intrusion," she added, apparently noticing the confusion written in their faces. "Yes, I believe that it affords magic. Perhaps, the Unspeakables can develop a charm, which they can cast at you to close your mind to others."
Connie nodded in understanding. "That would be amazing." Turning to Harry, she added, "Rebecca told Artemis to teach you and your birth parents Occlumency, so that no one would be able to read their minds and yours. They said that the headmaster might try to cast Legiwhatever…"
"Legilimency."
"… Legilimency at you if he suspects that you're not living with the Dursleys anymore."
Harry nodded in understanding, before he let out a deep sigh. "Do I really have to attend Hogwarts?"
Regina nodded. "I can understand why you're hesitating, especially as it might be boring for you after all you learned at the Unspeakables' office, but still, you should also have some normal education as well. There are other reasons beside this, and I believe that we should discuss the question with Rebecca and Artemis. They will be better able to explain why they believe that it's important for you to attend Hogwarts."
Harry shook his head. "All right. Thanks, Mum. It's fine. We don't have to discuss this with Rebecca and Artemis. If they want me to do so, I will. I trust them."
"Especially as they've promised that I'll be able to see Harry on a daily basis," Connie added, pleasantly.
Regina smiled, knowingly.
"Oh wait. May Lucy go to Hogwarts with me?"
"I believe that you already asked Granny Minerva a few years ago, and she said that you were allowed to take her with you."
Harry nodded in determination. 'If not, I wouldn't go either.'