Note: Good grief, an update! I've been away an awfully long time and as it happens I'm mostly busy writing original things these days. But I've noticed there have been a few readers still hanging about and I found a half-written chapter and thought I'd post it...maybe it might inspire me to finish this...if I can remember how it all goes...
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
24: Slipping
She could remember it clear as day and it made a vivid dream. She could practically recall the date of the day in question. The day she'd risked a drink with her colleagues on their way home from one patrol or another.
The day she'd realised that if the Order didn't kill her, her scarlet Auror robes probably would.
She'd watched her colleague collapse in a heap on the floor, a horrible, desperate strangling noise escaping his throat, and as the tankard he had held just a moment earlier cluttered across the floorboards she had found herself simply...staring.
Her two companions had barged roughly past her to rush to his aid and she had stumbled sideways into a table and knocked a glass to the floor with a crash. Not that anyone noticed...
She certainly hadn't.
The victim, the poisoned ale still dribbling down his chin, had died before her eyes a mere minute later.
A wave of Aurors had descended upon the bar within the blink of an eye and she had shuffled off into a corner and stood next to a newly arrived Savage, who was standing guard near the door, and tried best to blend in.
Mad-Eye had appeared in the doorway ten minutes later, to this day she hadn't a clue how he had come to hear of the incident or the fact that she had been involved.
To the dead body being fussed over by the bar, the grizzled old wizard had said: "Poor bugger." To Savage: "What're you bloody staring at, lad?!" And to her: "Outside!"
"What?"
"You heard, lass!"
She'd opened and closed her mouth a few times before venturing:
"Boss says I'm to stay here and..."
"Get yourself outside this instant, Nymphadora, else I swear I'll make you wish you'd drank from that cup!"
She'd scowled at him and, despite Savage's clear disapproval, had shuffled towards the door, only to veer sideways towards the bar when her mentor had snapped:
"Not out the front way, for Merlin's sake! Stupid girl. Merlin, give me strength..."
"You can't just order me away from work like this, you know." she'd hissed as the two of them had sidled round the bar and headed for the back door. "I know you don't always realise it, Mad-Eye, but you've retired..."
"And you've gotten to be a bloody smart arse!"
"Not really. You said I was born one of those..."
As soon as she'd stepped out into the alleyway behind the pub he'd grabbed hold of her by the shoulder and half-thrown her up against the wall, pinning her there as she gasped in a panicked breath.
"Look at me."
"Mad-Eye!"
"Look. At. Me."
"I am! I..."
"You're looking over my shoulder. Look at me, Nymphadora."
She had finally consented to meeting his gaze and in the sudden quiet of the alleyway, punctured only by her gasping breaths she had felt reality begin to sink in.
Her legs buckled.
"Did you drink anything?" he had asked, holding her up by a firm hand upon her shoulder, and she shook her head vigorously. "You're sure? Not a drop?"
"I...I was waiting to be served, I..."
"Look at me."
"I..."
"Shut up and listen. It's getting worse, poisoning Aurors in broad daylight..."
"It's gone nine at night..."
"...you're going to have to watch yourselves, you and Shacklebolt. Constant Vigilance!"
"Yes, yes! I know, I..."
"You're not to go out like this again, d'you hear?! Keep apart from the others..."
"What's the use of that? I'm supposed to be the Order's eyes and ears..."
"Shh!"
"But..."
"Use your head, Nymphadora!" His voice had softened a little as he'd consented to grunting: "It's a fine one when you bother."
"Is that why you're here?" she'd said with a sniff, yanking herself free of his grasp and swiping a hand across her eyes. "To dish out a few bloody unhelpful catchphrases?! I...I just watched a man choke to death, for Merlin's sake! I...Merlin!"
"It's your first."
"What?!"
"Poisoning. You've not seen a real case of it before."
"No..."
"I know. It's another milestone, Tonks. First you accidentally killed a man, now you've watched one foam at the mouth and die..."
"I...!"
"That's why I'm here."
"Oh..."
"You came looking for me last time. Thought I'd save you the hassle."
She'd felt oddly touched, but the full force of what she had just witnessed was beginning to shake her...
"Well...well I don't want a...a hug or anything, if that's what you were expecting..." she mumbled and he'd huffed and muttered:
"You weren't getting one either way."
They had fallen silent for a long moment as she had drawn her robes more tightly around her shoulders against the evening chill, then she had wondered:
"Did you...did you think perhaps it...it was me? I mean...did you think I was...dead?"
Moody had grunted in an almost-embarrassed fashion and she'd reached to clamp a hand to her mouth.
"Merlin, you thought I was dead!"
"Tonks..."
"You did. You thought someone...you think..."
"Go home, lass."
"I can't."
"Tell Scrimgeour to take a bloody hike..."
"No I mean I...I can't. I...Mum and Dad...I can't tell them. They're so on edge as it is, I...I don't want to...I mean...I just..." she'd trailed off rather hopelessly and he'd huffed irritably and grunted:
"You know where to go."
"Who's there?" she'd asked as he'd turned on his heel to stomp off up the alley towards the street beyond. "Is...is he there?"
"Aye." Moody had grunted. "He is."
And so she had gone there and told him all about it.
"...it was all over so fast! He was...was stone dead! Just...just like that...bile and...and blood all over his...I mean it was just...I just thought...!"
Remus had pushed a mug of tea into her hands and sat down heavily across the scrubbed kitchen table from her.
"Merlin," he'd murmured in suitably sympathetic tones. "I can't imagine...!"
"I couldn't go home."
"No, I suppose not..."
"I had to come here."
"Yes."
"I needed...Mad-Eye said you were here so..."
Remus had drunk some tea. It had been far too hot.
"I've um...I've not really seen anything like that happen myself...Sirius has, though. Because of course he was with poor Frank when something similar happened to him. Of course Frank didn't...didn't die, but..."
She'd reached across the table to press a hand to his arm and he'd trailed off rather uncertainly. She hadn't seemed to have been able to help it, she'd needed something...
Him.
"Everybody's going to want to kill me one of these days, aren't they?" she'd said, sounding entirely resigned despite having posed it as a question, and Remus had given a grim huff and admitted:
"These are dark times, Tonks."
"I'll have to be more careful." she'd said, and she'd found his hand coming to rest atop hers for the briefest of moments as he murmured:
"Please."
Then he'd suddenly noted his involuntarily little movement and risen to his feet, putting a good few steps' distance between them as he'd wondered:
"Perhaps we could do with something a little stronger than tea..."
"What are you thinking about?" Remus asked as he set the cup and saucer down upon the bedside table. "You've an odd look on your face."
"Do you remember," his wife wondered, yawning widely, "that time Sirius caught me in your bed?"
"Er..."
"You put me to bed after I drank far too much and then went and slept in Regulus' room. Sirius found me the next morning when he came to wake you and almost died of shock or excitement or whatever it was."
"Ah."
"After Trevor Nesbit dropped dead from poison in the Banshee's Head? I came back to Headquarters to tell you all about it and got roaring drunk?"
"You mean the time you tried to unbutton my shirt whilst I was midway through dragging you up three flights of stairs?"
"How did I do?"
"You only managed one button before my jumper got in the way."
"Oh. Shame..."
"I was so mortified I avoided you for over a week."
"Maybe if I'd managed a few more buttons you might've changed your mind." Dora reasoned with an air of complete and utter confidence.
Remus chuckled uncertainly and muttered:
"Oh to be young..."
"I'm worried, Remus." Dora went on, suddenly serious, and the werewolf sunk down onto the edge of the bed and offered:
"Oh?"
"If we don't catch Fawley soon, I'm afraid there will be lots more Trevor Nesbits out there. I've been thinking about him ever since Pan left...writhing around on the floor and choking..."
"I believe they believe this poison to be a very different kettle of fish. An...explosive one."
"I suppose...poison probably isn't even the word for it..." Dora sighed heavily, reaching to rake a frustrated hand through her snowy hair, and her husband observed:
"You are terribly restless."
"No doubt, love! All this...all this waiting! Lying here and waiting! It's doing my head in...what's bloody taking them so long?! Ted left for the Ministry over half an hour ago!"
Almost on cue the bedroom door swung open and Teddy strode into the room, still dusting soot from the front of his robes.
"Well?!" Dora pressed, sitting a little straighter, only to feel immediately uneasy at the pale look upon her son's face.
"I found Ron, eventually. He's busy handing out your instructions as we speak..."
There was something about his tone that made his mother ask:
"But...?"
Teddy hesitated, swallowing a lump in his throat.
"He'd just had word from Harry..." he explained slowly. "You ought hear from him yourself any time now..."
"Is he alright? Is Harry alright?"
"Oh yes...yes he's...he's doing well...better than you, I'd say. He's even been for a...a stroll around Mungo's this morning."
Dora didn't think such good news had ever been delivered so bleakly in all her years.
"What's wrong, Teddy?"
Teddy rubbed a wary hand across his eyes before sighing heavily.
"You're wanted at Mungo's, Mum." he said at last. "It's...it's Isaac...he's fallen into a coma. Jasmine's bereft, Harry doesn't know what to do with her..."
As he stumbled painfully through the doors and towards the source of the commotion, Head of Aurors Harry Potter felt his blood run cold.
"N..no! No, don't! Don't!"
"Ms Wickes we must insist that you calm yourself!"
"Please! I didn't mean it! Please wake up!"
"We appreciate how distressing this is, but we really must insist..."
"No!"
"This really isn't helping."
"I w...won't leave him! He has to...to wake up! I...I want to...I want to...m...marry him! I do! I...I do..."
Harry attempted to draw himself up to his full height, a painful manoeuvre, before shoulder-barging his way through the small crowd of disgruntled hospital staff, murmuring:
"Excuse me...sorry...it's alright I've got her...let me..."
Without much thought he reached to fling his arms around the sobbing heap that was firmly attached to the front of the dying man's hospital gown, wincing as he dragged her back onto her feet. She collapsed against his chest with a wail, elbow colliding painfully with his bandages and it was all he could do to grind out a pained: "Shhhhh!"
"Harry! He won't wake up!" Jasmine complained, voice an ugly tear-choked gurgle, but Harry was too busy attempting to fight off the sudden weakness that had struck him as his wound throbbed in protest.
"Mr Potter..." one of the healers began, sounding mildly outraged, and without looking round at the man in question, the Auror grunted:
"I said I've got her!"
"You must go back to your bed, Mr Potter..."
"No, you must have a heart! We'll be alright! Leave us!"
To his surprise, after minimal grumbling, the crowd dispersed.
"Merlin, Jas..." Harry wheezed, still clutching his friend painfully to his chest. "I...let me breathe!"
Jasmine, seemingly not in this world, did not move.
"I do want to marry him!" she complained, shuddering with tears. "I do, Harry, I do!"
"I know, Jas. I know you do..." Harry squeezed his eyes shut, finding the pain in his chest seemed suddenly insignificant compared to the pain dragging his heart to his boots.
He didn't know what to say to her, he realised a second later, and the realisation panicked him. He'd never been great at this sort of thing. Of course he knew all about pain and loss, he knew how to talk about it in a way. He stood and gave speeches at events about the War, and yet...
Ron said he was useless. He said Harry just didn't get it the same way that other people did. He said ever since Sirius had died and Harry had found himself flung into increasingly hostile waters, all Harry seemed to be able to do with loss was bottle it up inside of him until it was fit to burst. And it was true, Harry realised dismally, he'd never changed. Not even all these years later...
He'd always used Tonks as a shield against dealing with things like this, always sent her to speak to grieving families and colleagues should an Auror be lost to them, always asked her to deal with the difficulties surrounding the department's policies on compassionate leave. He'd been muddling along quite agonisingly since her retirement and still felt entirely ashamed that he had, and wished he still could, let her do his dirty work. He had always reasoned with himself that she was simply the better person for the job. She was hard as nails and yet as soft as silk. She had the whole thing rehearsed. She always knew what to say.
Sometimes Tonks had said: I'll send Isaac. He's better at this sort of thing.
And Tonks had been right.
Harry gazed bleakly over the top of Jasmine's head at Isaac Graham and felt himself clutching hold of Jasmine harder, crushing her against the bandages until they stung.
It took him some minutes to compose himself enough to whisper:
"Is there...is there anyone I should...his sister..."
Jasmine, having grown disconcertingly quiet after such prolonged hysteria, shook her head vigorously and Harry hurriedly amended:
"Or...or your family, Jas. Do you want...is there someone you want me to...to contact? Someone to come and sit with you?"
He suddenly realised that he couldn't remember anything much about Jasmine's family. The only one of her relatives that Harry had ever met was her younger cousin Freddie whose short stint as an Auror cadet had ended in a scandal involving a broom cupboard, a female fellow cadet and a pair of misplaced boxer shorts. Jasmine had spent an awful lot of time making jokes and laughing about her cousin's misdemeanour, but Harry had not particularly gotten the impression that the two had been that close. Jasmine never mentioned family at all, now he came to think of it. Family to Jasmine had been...well...Isaac.
"Your...parents?" Harry tried, wincing a little at just how little he knew, and Jasmine shook her head and whispered:
"We d...don't really speak."
"A...sibling...?"
An odd noise escaped the witch's mouth, almost like a snigger.
"Melanie. Half-sister."
"Ah..."
"Don't bother, she hates me."
"Oh..."
"I shagged her boyfriend."
Harry's grip upon her slackened and despite her despair she very nearly chuckled, shaking her head vigorously.
"I didn't know who he was! I wouldn't have...or maybe I would have, who knows!"
Her recollections seemed to calm her somewhat and Jasmine disentangled herself from Harry's arms so that she could shuffle back to perch upon the edge of the hospital bed, staring down at her boots.
"Mum and Dad split up when I was four." she explained quietly, fingers of one hand stroking absentmindedly at Isaac's arm. "She found out he'd been having it off with someone else for years...turned out this other woman had had his kid! He buggered off to go and live with them. I didn't see him much...he was too busy playing happy families with Mel and her mum. Then when I turned twelve and Mel was about to turn eleven everyone suddenly realised we'd both be at Hogwarts together..." shaking her head again, the witch recalled: "Suddenly Dad's inviting me over there loads, trying to include me in things, trying to throw Mel and me together. Neither one of us was interested, really. We didn't have much in common. But we made an effort...keep Daddy happy, ha! Then we went to school and avoided one another like the plague. When I was nineteen Dad and Mel's mum finally decided to get married. I didn't want to go to the wedding but the daft cow made me a bridesmaid...I got massively drunk at the reception back at their house...met this boy...had no idea who he was but he seemed like a bit of fun...I had no idea he was Mel's boyfriend, he certainly wasn't acting like it! We ended up in Mel's bedroom...she found us when she came to fix her hair for the photographs..."
Harry winced at the idea and Jasmine reached to rake a hand through her hair in exasperation at herself.
"There's a scar on my shoulder where she hexed me! She went utterly berserk! And of course so did everyone else...at your own father's wedding! Your darling little sister's boyfriend! In her bed! You ruined the entire day! My name was mud after that and I suppose I didn't care, I didn't want anything to do with any of them anyway. I was happy with just me and Mum...not that there's really a me and Mum these days, mind you."
"Why not?"
"She doesn't approve of my relationship with Isaac. She thinks I'm just with him for his money and that I should've settled down and married a nice young man my own age...she and Isaac's sister would get on like a house on fire!" Jasmine's shoulders slumped and she reached to grasp tightly hold of Isaac's hand as she whispered: "So I don't really have...have anyone. Just Isaac. It's just me and Isaac..." she trailed off, so slumped that Harry thought it a wonder she didn't topple off her perch entirely, and the wizard reached to press a comforting hand to her shoulder.
"You've got your friends, Jas. We're all here for you. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere! Xander and Bertie and the others, they'll be at your side like a shot if you need them!"
"If you and Tonks could actually let them leave the office..." Jasmine mumbled bitterly, reaching to swipe a sleeve across her eyes.
"Tonks would be here right now if she knew, you know." Harry went on, trying not to flinch at her jibe, and Jasmine sighed, reaching to bury her face in her hands.
"No she wouldn't. She's got enough worry of her own! She's t..too sick!"
Harry's grip upon Jasmine's arm tightened reassuringly.
"Tell you what, Jas," he suggested, "We'll send her an owl, how about that? I'm sure she'll come if she can."
"She can't get out of bed. I...I wish she could! I wish she could come and...and you know...say all those things she...she always knows to say...those things she...she probably stole off Remus! B...but she can't...she can't!"
"Maybe, but we'll let her know what's happened anyway. And the others. I'll owl Ron too, alright? You're never going to be on your own, Jas, you'll see."
Jasmine's hands fell back into her lap and she offered Harry an almost-smile before turning to stare down at the man in the bed. There was a long silence, punctuated only by the laboured sound of Isaac's slow, shallow breathing.
"He's...he's not going to wake up, is he?" she whispered forlornly. All Harry could think to mumble was:
"I don't know, Jas."
And Jasmine wept.
Dora Lupin could feel herself slipping.
"Don't look at me like that." she muttered to the blacks of her eyelids, and from where he stood in the doorway, arms folded firmly across his chest, Teddy Lupin told her:
"I'm not looking at you like anything."
"Just...get back to work!" his mother snapped, grasping fistfuls of duvet in quivering hands, and he pursed his lips together into a thin line and didn't move a muscle.
His father, ever the diplomat, said:
"Perhaps you ought get going, Ted. Your mother is getting tired."
Teddy's chin jutted out stubbornly and he inquired:
"Shall I fetch the chair on my way out?"
"No!" Dora exclaimed, so incensed that her eyes snapped open to glower at him, and Remus murmured:
"I'm sure I can fetch it if need be, Ted."
Teddy reached to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his robes, a gesture so akin to his father's habits that at any other time it would make Dora smile.
"You could go to her, you know." the wizard informed his mother softly. "If you really wanted to."
And with that he turned on his heel, offered his father the slightest of nods, and disappeared back towards the fireplace. His parents heard the sound of roaring flames before silence descended over the cottage. Remus reached to rake a wary hand through his thinning silvery hair before turning to look at his wife questioningly.
"I can't go." Dora informed him frankly. "I just...can't." And with that a hand flew to clamp down over her mouth, expression positively drenched in shame.
Remus went to straighten the papers she had left strewn across the bed.
"If you say so, darling."
"I...I can't walk! I couldn't possibly...!"
"If you are sure."
"It would be stupid, wouldn't it? I mean I...I...I'm right, aren't I?"
"It's entirely up to you, darling."
"I...what do you think, Remus?!"
Remus paused to look up at her. He smiled a bland smile that suggested he was trying terribly hard but his heart wasn't in it.
"I'm sure you know best, Dora."
He went back to sorting papers, only for her hand to shoot forward and grasp hold of him by the arm. He looked up again to find her face grown ashen with anxiety.
"I'm slipping." the witch whispered, dark eyes wide and bleak.
"Yes." Remus agreed, and it stung.
Dora felt ashamed. Worse, she thought Remus was ashamed. Of her. Of her making such progress and then throwing it all away in an instant. Despite his attempts to hide his feelings he seemed so...disappointed.
Dora could not recall a time she had ever truly experienced her husband being so utterly disappointed in her.
She embarrassed him on a semi-regular basis, though long years of matrimony had left him armoured against utter humiliation. He might have been disappointed on many occasions during their life together but always seemed to choose to be exasperated or accepting or indeed nothing much at all. In earlier years he had sometimes been disappointed by her divulging all manner of what he felt private matters to Molly Weasley, but really this was only because he knew this would lead to mass-Weasley interference in his love life and each time he'd gone on to realise that this had been a positive thing. He was perhaps disappointed each time she had landed herself in trouble at work for saying or doing something outrageous or plain daft, but he never held it against her for more than a split second because...well...Dora was who Dora was, there was no changing her and he'd vowed upon their wedding day to have and to hold her for better or worse...
Indeed, Remus loved Dora for all her strengths and all her flaws.
No doubt now he was beginning to realise that he had apparently mistaken one of these things for the other. And, try as he might, he was disappointed by this revelation.
Dora couldn't stand it.
She hauled herself up to sit straighter upon the bed and reached to throw the duvet back from her lap.
"Go and get it." she told him fiercely, reaching to push experimentally at the braces upon her legs, and when he did not move she glared at him.
"Get what?" he inquired, raising an infuriating eyebrow, causing her to snap:
"You know what!"
Remus shook his head disbelievingly.
"You won't even say it."
"Remus...!"
"Alright then."
She watched him disappear out into the sitting room and took this brief moment of solitude to attempt to steel her shredded nerves.
And she could hear it, mingled with his footsteps just moments later, the soft sound of turning mechanisms as it rolled towards the door. Then it was there, rolling over the threshold towards her and she felt the colour drain from her face.
"Stop!"
Remus stopped.
It stopped.
It was looking at her.
Dora tried to gather her nerves and failed.
"Can't do it." she whispered, eyes as wide as snitches. "Just...can't..."
Remus leant heavily upon the handles and frowned deeply at the floor, only sigh and tell her:
"I'll go, then."
"What?"
"To the hospital. I can sit with Jasmine for a while."
"Oh..."
"I'm sure I'm not who she'd rather see, of course..."
"Well..."
"...but I'm sure she'll understand."
Dora didn't feel as though Remus really understood. The chances of Jasmine being understanding were probably exceptionally slim.
"Well..." she said again, trying to compose herself and not doing a good job in the slightest. "I'm sure she'll...I mean...you're very good at...you know...and she's...she's very fond of you, you know! She is, she'll be dead relieved to see you!"
"I'm sure." Remus agreed doubtfully.
Dora too felt doubtful.
Of course it was true to say that Jasmine was fond of Remus, the two of them had gotten on well over the years and Dora had often put this down to the fact that Remus and Isaac shared a number significant character traits. But Jasmine had, in the grand scheme of things, been far more Dora's friend than Remus', Dora had thrown the two of them together by circumstance and she felt ashamed that things had come to this, that Remus was off to comfort her best friend whilst she was sat in this infernal bed doing...well...
"I'll drop you an owl if there's any news." Remus was saying as he disappeared out into the sitting room to gather together a handful of belongings to shove into his pockets, his wallet, wand, a handkerchief and a handful of loose change. "Do take care, won't you darling?"
He was gone almost as soon as she had opened her mouth to mumble a farewell. Dora sighed heavily, casting her eyes gloomily around her bedroom prison.
And it was still there by the doorway.
Dora stared at it, fidgeting uncomfortably.
It stared back.
Gossip spreads through the workplace faster than fiendfyre and, Imogen Lupin was discovering, Silver Chalice Potions was no exception. Within the space of one afternoon Imogen found people seemed to stare at her when she walked down corridors and when she had gone to drop off a stack of order forms to reception Marge had suddenly become very interested in something dropped under her desk.
Imogen had quite expected the usual whispering and giggling that went on across the workroom to increase tenfold. Instead, Sharon, Lena and Tabitha were...silent.
Unnervingly silent. But there was no doubt that they were watching Imogen's every move. She kept catching them staring...
Glaring, even.
And Imogen suddenly found that perhaps she understood Phoenix's grimace at being caught out after all. It could no doubt grow tiring to be stared at and frowned upon all day long.
Imogen kept to a corner bench, doing her best to focus on her work and silently willing the clock to tick a little faster. Half past five o'clock was sweet relief and for once Imogen was the first to abandon her bench and make a dash for the door.
She paused, door half open when a voice stopped her.
"Imogen!"
Imogen turned to find her female co-workers clustered together in a little huddle, Sharon stood in front, eying her somewhat uncertainly.
"Don't!" Lena hissed, tugging urgently at the red head's arm, and Tabitha, who looked like a deer caught in headlights, was shaking her head vigorously.
"Yes...?" Imogen consented to replying, leaning heavily upon one hip in resignation of an attack of one form or another, and Sharon shuffled her feet indecisively for a long moment before Tabitha whispered far too loudly:
"He'll be cross, Sharon!"
Sharon promptly scowled.
"Let me walk you out!" she offered Imogen brightly, snatching up her handbag and positively beaming.
"Oh..." Imogen mumbled, and then she plastered an equally false smile onto her face. "Sure..."
Before she knew it, Imogen found she had been seized by the arm and Sharon had whiskered her off into the corridor and towards reception, only for their pace to suddenly falter to a near-crawl.
"Gosh," Sharon enthused as Imogen continued to smile uncertainly. "I'm so glad Mr. Selwyn picked you as Tess' replacement, you know! It's fun, isn't it? Us girls all together!"
"Mm..." Imogen agreed, musing that she had never felt quite so not-together with a group as she did in that workroom, and Sharon gave an exaggerated sigh and told her:
"We were so sad when Tess went! No warning or anything, either! One day we all came in and she was just...gone!"
"Mm..."
"Oh it was awful, I can tell you! And then of course Master Selwyn came in and she wasn't there and he had no idea Mr Selwyn had sacked her! It was terrible, Master Selwyn was very upset, you know!"
"Oh dear..."
"I heard him, you know! I think everyone did! Shouting at his father for near on an hour!"
"Goodness..."
"Because of course Tess was his favourite." Sharon stopped dead to turn and eye Imogen meaningfully as she said, about as subtly as one kicking a door down, "He used to bring her a cup of tea every single morning!"
Imogen took a determined step forward, pulling her unwanted companion into movement as she mumbled:
"He must have been very upset, then."
"Well that's what we thought, of course." Sharon went on, waving a hand dismissively as if suddenly their conversation was little but idle gossip. "But once she was sacked that was the end of it..."
"Oh?"
"...but now you're here!" Sharon went on, rather as if she had not heard Imogen in the slightest. "And we're so glad, we thought we might end up with someone boring! You do like it here, don't you? I do, I like it here! I've been here since I left school, I know everything about everything here, you can always just ask me, you know! It's a nice place, everyone's very nice don't you think? It's a good place to work, good people, good job, just as long as you know...you know..." Reaching to throw open the doors into reception, Sharon finally dropped Imogen's arm and glanced over her shoulder to conclude: "...not to get your fingers burnt!"
"Ha..." Imogen mumbled, reaching warily to adjust the bag upon her shoulder, and with that she hurried past the scrutinising gaze of Marge behind the reception desk and out into Diagon Alley, where she apparated home with a great sigh of relief.
There was an envelope waiting for her on the kitchen table.
I'm sorry about earlier, it simply read, then: Dinner?
Dora Lupin read of her youngest granddaughter's triumph through watery eyes. It did not bring the leap of excitement in her chest that she had long hoped for.
Sent Ted and Finn to the address you gave. Large order of substance ordered under the name R. Luga, the hastily scribbled note had informed her in Ron Weasley's messy script. Sent to her only yesterday afternoon. We've got her, Tonks!
Dora stared down at the letters, reaching to swipe a sleeve across her eyes and, pausing to glance over at It by the doorway, silently cursed the lack of fire in her belly. She was drained, she realised dully, what with It staring at her for hour after hour, what with being stuck in her little prison with no hope of relief. She couldn't feel glad, no matter what the news.
She flipped the note over and reached for a quill.
Don't arrest her, she scribbled back. We're playing a longer game.
Then she reached for a fresh piece of parchment and, sighing despairingly, began:
For the Attention of the Editor of the Evening Prophet...
There was no mention of the Auror Department's breakthrough in that evening's edition of the Evening Prophet, Pandora Lupin discovered upon sitting down to dinner with her parents early that evening, her sister noticeably absent. Instead, she found herself bemused to to spot a large advertisement emblazoned across the bottom of the front page. It simply read:
WANTED: BUG CRUSHERS! APPLY VIA OWL.
"What's that supposed to mean?" the squib wondered, holding out the paper for her father to see, and as Teddy peered down at the page, midway through a mouthful of mashed potato, his daughter recalled: "They don't ever put advertisements on the front page! And look! There's not even any contact details!"
Teddy merely raised an eyebrow and reached for the carlton of orange juice set down in the middle of the table.
"Perhaps the right person doesn't need an address." He poured himself a tall glass of juice before suggesting: "And perhaps it isn't really an advertisement at all."
Bemused at this cryptic response, Pandora abandoned the paper upon the empty chair beside her and asked:
"Where's Immy?"
"Out and about." Carrie supplied vaguely, only to offer her husband a bright smile to observe: "Unlike Dad, on the other hand! He's home right until morning!"
"Ron sent us off as if we might have a good rest." Teddy murmured, shaking his head despairingly. "But I don't feel at all relaxed...I keep thinking of Isaac and Jasmine, for one thing...Mum for another..."
"What about Nana?" Pandora wondered, feeling a sudden stab of anxiety at the notion when all had seemed to well with Dora earlier that day, and Teddy drew in a long, weary breath, only for Carrie to reach to rest a hand against his arm and murmur:
"Nothing in particular, love. Nana's just a worry! Stuck in that bed morning noon and night, healers fussing and the Ministry being as it is. I'm sure she's perfectly fine but we all just worry."
Her mother was probably right, Pandora thought gloomily as she shovelled a mound of peas onto her fork. Dora had still seemed somewhat fragile when Pandora had visited. No doubt everyone would be worrying about her for a long while yet.
Ted Lupin was more than worried.
He despaired.
The Auror had left the table without dessert and had gone to lie upon his bed, staring bleakly up at the ceiling. It seemed to him that just then he had a whole lot of things to worry about; his young daughter's impending motherhood, the whereabouts of Jeffrey Fawley and his various associates, the ever bleaker news from St. Mungo's Hospital, his mother's poor health, the state of the back garden that had grown somewhat jungle-like thanks to his complete lack of spare time to tend to it, the sheer exhaustion of work combined with everything else...
He had not expected to find himself worried sick over his mother's mental state.
Of course she had been troubling him for a long while, he had felt concerned. But he had, as always, had complete faith that she would pull herself together, pick herself up no matter how far the fall and carry on...
He had never in his wildest dreams imagined that when he told her Jasmine needed her that she would simply...not go...
He supposed it was probably naïve of him to think she would never fall apart so entirely. But sometimes one simply cannot help naivety. It is a form of self-preservation.
And now he was less than ignorant, Ted was wounded.
It hurt like nothing else.
His wife found him some half an hour later, having tucked their overly-tired daughter up in bed with a tall mug of cocoa, and as she crept into the bedroom she found the wizard in darkness.
Carrie closed the door firmly yet carefully behind her, before creeping over to his side of the bed. She stood for a time gazing down at him, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping, until he finally whispered:
"I wanted her to go so very much."
"I know, love."
"I just...I was so sure she would!"
"I know."
"I don't think she...she even considered it! Not even for a second I just...Merlin...!"
His brow creased deeply in agitation at the mere thought. Carrie reached down to press a soothing hand to his forehead, fingers rubbing gently at the folds as if to smooth them away.
"Do try and relax, Ted." she whispered, free hand coming to rest upon his chest. "You're awfully tense."
"Everything's going so horribly wrong, Carrie. Nothing is as it should be, everything's...everybody's...warped!"
"Oh love..."
"Pandora's all...all...she's been up to Merlin bloody knows what! She's having a bloody baby, for Merlin's sake! And...and Im's been so wayward lately! She's always out and about and so...so vague when I speak to her! If I bloody speak to her! Dad's beginning to crack, I can see it! He's got no idea what to do about Mum! And Mum! I...I don't even know what Mum is anymore! She's not like the mother who raised me, that's for sure! She's a bloody stranger! Pan was bloody right about her!"
"Don't say that, Ted..."
"It's true! I didn't recognise her! She was...was pathetic!"
"You don't mean that."
"Who knows what I mean, Carrie! I don't know who I am, either! I'm just...I'm just so...so tired! I'm just too tired! I don't know what I'm supposed to do! Everything's a ruin!"
"Everything's far from a ruin, love." Carrie whispered, reaching to smooth the hair soothingly back from his brow. "Don't give up hope just yet. This family has far too solid a foundation to crumble, even now. You're right, you're very tired. Just relax."
She kissed him, then, leaving him to sink back upon the mattress, his hands reaching instinctively to draw her closer and for a moment he allowed himself to become consumed by the novelty of a rare moment of intimacy between husband and wife that seemed so rare now that there were so few spare minutes left of a day. He tried desperately to lose himself, to block out the rest of the world until there was nothing but her and her lips upon him and his hands toying with the waistband of her jeans. He felt an odd sense of wonder at her, as if those subtle little movements and contours of her body that he knew so well after over two decades of marriage were in fact a mystery to him...
Had it really been so long? Since a moment like this?
"Come here." he murmured, as if pressed against his chest she could indeed come closer, and when she merely drew back to smile at him he reached to hitch her legs up onto the bed until she was lying flat atop him. She promptly wrapped her arms tightly around his arm and buried her face in his neck with a sigh.
Teddy contented himself for a while simply holding her, fingers raking through her chestnut hair as he smiled sleepily up at the ceiling.
"Relaxed?" she mumbled eventually, and a vague rumble of approval rose in his throat.
"Merlin," he sighed a moment later, eyes drifting closed. "I do love you, you know."
"Oh, you'd better." Carrie said, yawning widely. "Nobody else was going to put up with me!"
"Hm...fair point..."
"Teddy!"
He opened his eyes to grin down at her and she huffed and informed him:
"You're awfully lucky you married your best friend, you know. Any other woman wouldn't put up with teasing like that!"
Ted leant to press a kiss to her forehead, before frowning a little and admitting:
"I wonder sometimes, you know...if...if that's why I worry about Imogen so much...dating..."
"Hm."
"...I mean what do either of us know about...all that? It's some sort of...of brutal game we're supposed to have learnt to play...except we didn't. We skipped all that when we chose to stick with one another."
"There were girls at Hogwarts..."
"I wasn't being serious. But you had Austin..."
"I was only with Austin because I thought you were with Victoire...don't laugh!"
"Victoire Weasley...what a notion!"
"You snogged her."
"I did no such thing! It was a peck on the lips at most!"
"Well if you'd have had any sense you would've snogged her. Any other sane boy your age would have..."
"Well I don't think I was missing much. Colin Jones from Ravenclaw told me she was a dreadful kisser."
"Colin Jones sounds like an idiot."
"Colin Jones is married to a former Miss Wizarding Britain, I'll have you know!"
"Definitely an idiot."
"I imagine he knows a decent kisser when he meets one."
"Do you?"
"Mm?"
"Know a decent kisser when you meet one?"
"Ah, well..."
He was given little time to reply for she seemed keen to test him, only...
"Mum?!"
At the sound of Pandora calling up the stairs, both parents audibly groaned.
"Don't move a muscle." Carrie whispered, dropping one brief kiss to his lips before hastily pushing herself up from the bed. Teddy watched her disappear out of the bedroom, his arms flopping spread wide upon the bed with a sigh and as he listened to her footsteps upon the stairs he allowed his eyes to drift closed...
When Carrie returned a mere five minutes later her husband was fast asleep. She stood at the end of the bed in deliberation for some minutes, listening as he began to snore softly, before shaking her head.
"When this is all over," the muggle informed the sleeping Auror wearily, turning to head back downstairs, "you're going to have to take me away on holiday."