The Eighth Year Universe
Love Wins
Your Mother is Adventure
The chapter title is from the song:
Pioneer by The Band Perry.
Lupin House
Friday the 3rd of September
Harry had a couple of hours until Teddy returned from his honeymoon. Daphne was out of the country, so he knew it would be down to him to sit Teddy down and tell him what had happened. Rob was in no state to deliver the news to Nick, so they had decided that Harry would go to Blacknot Castle, and he and the Black-Notts would tell Teddy, Almina, Nick and Nina together.
In the meantime, he had plenty to be going on with here at Lupin House, though. It was over-capacity at the moment, thanks to the influx of children orphaned by the Diagon Alley attack. In the end, they'd had no choice but to make room for them though, they couldn't stay at the Hermione Granger school forever.
Harry had managed to bring in a couple of Muggles who had helped out during the attacks. One was a nurse called Anna Simpson, whose wizard husband had been badly injured in the attack, and another was a midwife called Katherine Andrews who had lost her 15-year-old daughter. They were helping Ginny keep the place afloat, and Harry was immensely grateful to them for that.
Still, they had to find homes for the orphaned children, and Harry was virtually at the point of pulling out family trees then begging distant family members to take them in. He had never wanted to get to that point because he still vividly remembered how disgusted he had been with Rob when he saw him use that method to find a home for Nina Frost when her parents died so many years ago.
Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair, which he swore was turning grey faster than ever at the moment, and focused on the parchment book in front of him. It was on an intake page, and the list of names should have looked familiar. After all, Harry had filled the page out himself late last night, but he could barely remember doing so.
Lupin House
LIST OF ORPHANS MADE SO BY THE AUGUST WEEKEND DIAGON ALLEY ATTACK
September 2021
Butcher, Lennox - Female - Half-blood - 9 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Squib Father/Azkaban.
Butcher, Rowan - Male - Half-blood - 11 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Squib Father/Azkaban.
Davis, Hollis - Male - Half-blood - 7 years - Squib Mother/Dead. Wizard Father/Dead.
Davis, Gale - Male - Half-blood - 7 years - Squib Mother/Dead. Wizard Father/Dead.
Grey, Piper - Female - Unknown - 6 months - Squib Mother/Dead. Father/Untraceable.
Hill, Halley - Female - Half-blood - 2 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Father/Untraceable.
Hunt, Nova - Female - Half-blood - 3 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Muggle Father/Prison.
Jordan, Colton - Male - Half-blood - 9 years old - Witch Mother/Dead. Wizard Father/Dead.
Sharp, Arryn - Male - Half-blood - 7 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Wizard Father/Dead.
Sharp, Shay - Female - Half-blood - 10 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Wizard Father/Dead.
Stevens, Sadie - Female - Half-blood - 5 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Father/Untraceable.
Stevens, Samuel - Male - Half-blood - 7 years - Witch Mother/Dead. Father/Untraceable.
Watson, Ash - Male - Half-blood - 6 years - Squib Mother/Dead. Muggle Father/Dead.
Harry groaned and let his head drop onto the table with a loud thump. None of these people had any close family; he had already checked that last night. He was out of ideas, short of dropping them on the doorsteps of Great Aunts or third cousins.
"That bad?"
Harry recognised the voice, so he spun around and looked at Hannah with wide eyes, "Hannah…you don't have to be here. Your Father…"
" – would want me to be here," Hannah said firmly. She had obviously been through the wringer, she was pale, thinner than usual, and her eyes were red and bloodshot.
"I've comforted my children as best as I can," Hannah said with a sigh, "I've cried, and I've shouted and thrown things. Now I need to keep myself busy, and the best way I can think of to do that is to help here."
Harry swallowed a lump in his throat, "He loved this place."
"He did," Hannah agreed, "Which is why we will do everything we can to find homes for these kids. If nobody can help, then we'll expand Lupin House so that they never have to feel alone again."
Harry managed a small smile, "Thank you."
Hannah nodded too, then a door swung open on the other side of the room, and Neville stepped in. When he saw Hannah, he dropped the fliers in his hands onto the table and crossed the room to hug her.
"Hannah, I'm so sorry about your dad."
Hannah hugged him back, then drew away, "Thank you, Neville. How is Lilly?"
Neville smiled slightly, "She's going to be okay. She's got a long road of physical therapy ahead of her, but she's going to be okay."
"Good," Hannah said softly, "She was a hero that day. I could tell she was in pain, I even offered to look at her foot, but she said she didn't have time to stop, that she would deal with it when everyone else was safe."
"She's a headstrong idiot, not a hero," Harry muttered. His eyes were on the intake sheet once more.
Hannah raised an eyebrow and turned to look at him, "Coming from you, Harry Potter?"
Neville snorted at that and motioned to the flyers, "I printed them. The Daily Prophet is going to put one in with each edition, and hopefully, anyone who can help will come forward."
"Did you add in the part about anyone who is related to these children coming forward?" Harry asked.
Neville nodded, "Yep."
"Good," Harry said with a nod, "Then let's get to work on the extension charms for the bedrooms to give these kids some space."
"I know a great little charm that creates a magical divider in a room," Hannah piped up, "It would give the children who have lost their parents the privacy they need. Would that be helpful?"
"Incredibly," Harry replied. He smiled warmly at Hannah, "Thanks for being here, Hannah. You're right. It's exactly what your dad would have wanted."
Hannah nodded a little tearfully, "Shall we get to work then?"
Blacknot Castle
The Potter-Wolfe's had known something was wrong when they received a portkey from Daphne with the cryptic note – Activates at 8 pm on Friday. It is the only safe way to travel.
When they grabbed the portkey and were transported back home, they all ended up feeling sick because of the distance they had travelled. Portkey travel was never fun anyway, and of course, it was even worse for Nina with her being pregnant. Portkey travel was safe for pregnant women now, so long as they cast the right protective charms first and Nina knew those charms well, working in paediatrics and midwifery.
Teddy caught Nina when she lost her balance on the landing, and Almina cast a quick charm in her direction to ease her nausea. Nina groaned and leaned against Teddy, "Thanks, Mina."
Almina nodded and looked up at the castle in the distance, "Ted, why did your mother give us a portkey to bring us to my family home?"
Teddy followed her line of sight and frowned, "I don't know."
"Why do I get the feeling that something happened while we were away?" Nick asked. He had wrapped his arm around Nina, who still looked a little green.
"I don't know, but I have the same feeling," Teddy admitted. He took Almina's hand and stepped towards the house, "Come on."
They made their way up the path then Almina unlocked the front door with a touch of her hand. She led the way up to the drawing-room, and when the foursome stepped in to see all four of Almina's parents and Harry there, they all felt a sense of dread settle in their stomachs.
Teddy's first question was, "Where's Mum? Has something happened?"
"Something has happened," Harry replied honestly, "But your mum is okay. She's in France with Thea and your grandmother – Lareina, not Narcissa."
Teddy's eyebrows shot up, "She's alive?"
"She faked her death, but that's not even the start of it," Theo said with a sigh, "Please tell me you enjoyed your honeymoon, though?"
"We did, Pops," Almina promised. She let go of Teddy's hand and kissed Theo on the cheek, "But what happened?"
Nick manoeuvred Nina into a seat by the fire and looked up at the others, "And where's my dad?"
"He relapsed, so I've put him and your mum up at an isolated place that my family own in the north of Scotland," Harry replied, "He needs some time to come to terms with everything, and Nat is okay too, she's staying at the house in Belgravia with Addison. Bones Manor is a little busy right now."
Nina frowned, and Nick gripped her shoulder as he sat down on the arm of her chair.
Teddy crossed his arms over his chest, "Lay it on us then."
Harry took a breath and nodded, "The Statute Saboteurs attacked Diagon Alley on Saturday at noon. The alley was packed, and four explosions went off, each one at an entrance from Muggle London. There were secondary collapses and fires. The Saboteurs set up anti apparition and disapparition wards, and they hacked the floo system too. They hacked the Ministry protocols and put them in lockdown so that the Aurors couldn't get to the alley. St Mungo's went into automatic protection mode when it sensed the danger so that the healers couldn't get there either."
Almina had already brought her hand up to her face, her eyes wide in horror. Teddy and Nick's eyes were steely as they prepared to hear the worst of it, and Nina still looked nauseous.
Harry took another breath and looked at the Potter-Wolfes, "Almina and Nick, none of your family members were there when it happened. But Teddy, your mum and Aunt Lilly had taken Thea and Laurel into the alley, and they met Susan and Alyssa there."
Teddy paled, "Are they - "
"They're okay," Harry assured Teddy, "Thea is pretty traumatised by it, which is part of the reason that they left for France and Aunt Lilly is in hospital. She hurt her foot then walked around on it for hours, healing everyone else so it became infected and frankly, she's lucky she didn't lose it. But she's going to be okay."
Teddy let out a relieved breath.
"I called the Reserve Aurors when I realised what had happened," Harry explained, "And we held the fort down in Diagon Alley until Hermione and Draco managed to unlock the ministry. Once that happened, and Clara and Michael managed to open up the hospital, we started getting people to safety. But 133 people died, and several children have been left orphaned."
Almina shook her head in disbelief, "Why would they do that?"
"We don't know for sure yet, sweetheart," Hermione said softly, "But we think it might have been to cripple us so that when they try and take over the Ministry, we're unprepared."
Sadie sighed and got to her feet, "Uncle Sorenson was working in CPS on Saturday, Mina. He saved so many lives, but when he was rescuing two children from flats that were about to collapse above the ice cream parlour, he…."
"No," Almina breathed.
Sadie couldn't say it, so Theo gripped his wife's hand and said, "He didn't make it."
Almina shook her head and turned around so that the others wouldn't see her tears. Teddy swallowed hard and pulled her into his arms.
"Who else?"
Harry ran a hand through his hair, "A lot of kids you three went to school with," he admitted, looking between Teddy, Nick and Nina, "Eden and Emelia Rose, and their husbands and children, their parents too. They were having dinner in Helga's Hotpot when the explosion brought the second floor crashing down."
Nina let her head drop into her hands at those words, and Nick swallowed hard.
"Louisa Holmes, Kenna Mulciber, Minnie and Molly Lane. They were having coffee in Madam Puddifoots when it hit, and they didn't make it either," Harry said quietly.
"No," Nina said quietly.
"And Natalie Hill was in her flat in the Closes," Draco said, his eyes dark, "She got her daughter out, but she didn't make it out herself."
"Josiah Shaw and Eleanor Travers, and their two sons," Theo said quietly, "They lived in the Closes."
"Nevee Hall's younger sister, Ivy-Rose," Harry said, looking at Teddy, "Her and her flatmate, Skye Day, they didn't make it out."
Nina was covering her ears now, and Nick didn't blame her. Almina looked up sharply, "Skye died? Does Charlie know?"
Theo just nodded in response.
"Skye and Ivy were in my year," Almina said. She was clearly in shock.
She sank onto the sofa and shook her head, "I liked Ivy. She was a Hufflepuff, and she was always so nice to me."
"Your brother hasn't taken it too well," Theo admitted, "Uncle Sorenson dying, and Skye and…Blake Fletcher too."
"Blake's dead?" Almina echoed.
Theo nodded, "Vic says Charlus isn't drinking or doing anything stupid. But he's distant and quiet."
"I'll talk to him," Almina said, rubbing her hand over her face, "Just please tell me we have a plan in place to burn these bastards to the ground?"
"We're working on it," Harry promised, "But we've just had a huge shift in the hierarchy of the ministry, which has slowed our task force down."
"A change in the hierarchy?" Almina asked slowly. She frowned and looked at Hermione, "Mum, did they vote you out after the attack?"
"No, but they would have if I hadn't resigned," Hermione said honestly, "People lose faith in a minister when they can't protect them from something like this."
"No," Almina said firmly, "Mum, this wasn't your fault."
Hermione sighed and shook her head, "I don't think I'll ever see it that way, sweetheart. Either way, we have the wartime leader that we need now."
Teddy raised an eyebrow at his father, "Dad?"
Harry scoffed, "No, of course not."
"No," Almina agreed, her eyes hovering over her parents, "My dad."
Draco nodded in response, and Almina sighed, "That makes sense, I suppose."
"Why didn't you send us a Patronus and tell us?" Teddy asked his dad, "We would have come home."
"That was exactly why we didn't tell you," Theo cut in.
"And also why your mum made you that portkey," Harry pointed out, "We're in a state of emergency, which means no international apparition or floo communications can be passed without Ministry permission. Everyone who can work from home has to do so to minimise the personnel in the ministry in the case of another attack. St Mungo's has strict visitation rules. This is how it was during the first war with Voldemort."
Nick swallowed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, "Well, we're going to have to go into work, aren't we? Ted, Mina and me?"
"You're classed as essential workers, yes," Draco agreed with a nod, "But Nina, things in the hospital are very chaotic and stressful at the moment. You really shouldn't be there, but Lupin House is crying out for experienced Healers, and with your speciality being in Paediatrics, they could really use you."
Nina nodded, "I'll go wherever I'm needed," she promised.
"I can't believe this has happened," Teddy admitted, "After everything that you sacrificed to make our world safe," he looked not just at his father but at the Black-Nott's too.
"There will always be a bad guy," Draco said calmly, "All we can do is make sure that we keep beating them."
Hermione took his hand, "And we will."
Almina didn't look quite so convinced, but she nodded anyway. In reality, she was thinking about the prophecy and that another attack seemed likely. None of it seemed like it was going to end happily.
London
Saturday the 4th of September
Teddy found out from Edith what time Nevaeh's shift finished, and he waited outside the hospital with coffee. She came out half an hour later and rolled her eyes when she saw him.
"Oh, so Saint Teddy returns from his honeymoon with coffee and his calming tone to make me talk about my trauma!"
Teddy raised an eyebrow, "You want the coffee or not?"
"I've come off my fourth 12-hour shift this week. Of course I want the fucking coffee."
Nevaeh took it and shot Teddy a side-long look, "How was your week of bliss while the world burned?"
"It was good. It wouldn't have been good if we'd known what had happened because obviously, we would have come home," Teddy said. He had been friends with Nevaeh for long enough to withstand her cutting tone.
They fell into step together, and Teddy remarked, "Edith's worried about you, Victoire's worried about you."
Nevaeh made a face, then said, "I'm fine."
"Generally, when I get Patronuses from your girlfriend and your best friend within an hour of being back in the country, I assume you're not fine, though," Teddy pointed out.
"Edith thinks I'm burying my pain in my work which is stupid," Nevaeh scoffed, "She's working just as much as I am. Mental Health Healers are in high demand right now."
"Yeah, I bet," Teddy said. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, "Nevee, your sister died."
"My half-sister," Nevaeh said, keeping her tone even, "Who I had nothing in common with and never actually liked that much. She was in Hufflepuff, remember? She was all righteous and grateful, and 'Lupin House saved us, we have to give back to the world'."
Teddy didn't buy it though.
"Like you didn't become a Healer to give back to the world," Teddy said, giving her a knowing look, "And she drove you nuts, I know that. But Ivy was your baby sister, and now she's gone. I punched a hole in the wall last night after reading that list of names, so don't tell me you're fine."
Nevaeh paused and took a breath, "She's dead, and there's nothing I can do about it, alright? I'm fine because what else can I be, Teddy? I can't bring her back. I can't change the past, as much as I want to, so I'll scatter her ashes somewhere green because she always liked how green it was at Lupin House. She loved being away from the pollution of London. Then she went and lived there to follow her stupid dream of becoming a journalist."
She shook her head, "And it got her killed, so yeah, I'll scatter her ashes somewhere green, then I'll move on."
"This isn't a break-up, Nevee. You don't just move on from something like this, not without help," Teddy said gently.
Nevaeh shot Teddy a humourless smirk, "Good thing my girlfriend is a Mental Health Healer then, isn't it? Thanks for the coffee, though."
"Yeah," Teddy said offhandedly, "Goodbye then."
She raised her hand in a gesture of farewell and disappeared down a side alley to apparate away from the hospital.
London
Lacey woke up and found her best friend curled up in bed next to her for the third time in as many days. She had come to stay after the attacks, and Jack hadn't questioned it because he knew how close Lacey and Briar had been throughout their school years.
Jack was working overtime at the moment anyway, and Lacey just hoped things settled down a little before the baby was born.
Briar had been a mess when she showed up, and Lacey didn't blame her. Her twin sister had died in the attack, and Briar said she knew the minute that she was gone because it felt like her soul was ripped in half, and somebody had dragged it from her body.
Blair, her husband David and their two daughters, Lucy and Ellie, had been in the ice cream parlour when the explosions hit Diagon Alley.
Briar had been inconsolable that first day, and then she just became quiet. Lacey tried to talk to her, but she was like a shell of the person she had been before. Lacey just didn't know how to get through to her best friend. She went to bed in the guest room across the hall every night but woke up curled against Lacey's side, and Jack was always gone by that point if he had even come home from work the night before.
This morning, Briar was actually in a deep sleep, so Lacey got up as quietly as she could and headed downstairs. She paid the owl for the morning prophet, but she didn't open it because she couldn't bear to read about any more suffering.
Wincing as she sat down to drink her morning cup of tea, she placed her hand on her stomach and willed November to come quickly. That was when she noticed the letter sitting above the prophet; it was in Theo's writing.
She opened it and scanned the words, hoping it wasn't any more bad news.
"Don't attend any more appointments at the hospital. I've spoken to Clara Cauldwell, and she's going to come and check on you every couple of weeks. Floo her at Selwyn Park if anything comes up though, even if you think it's just a cramp. The hospital isn't safe, and I can't handle anything happening to you or the baby, Lace.
Stay safe,
Love,
Dad."
Lacey smiled slightly and turned it over to pen a quick reply.
"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that. I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself, even if the world is quite scary right now.
I hope you can come over and visit soon, but I understand that things are manic and you're busy with everything that happened. If there's anything I can do to help from a desk, please let me know. I'm going out of my mind with boredom.
Love you,
Lacey."
She sent it off with her owl and leant back in her chair, her eyes catching the rooflight as the sun began to rise over London.
It had to be a better day, and it had to be the start of better times. If she didn't believe in that, she didn't know how to keep putting one foot in front of the other anymore.
St Mungo's
Ron and Lilly were both awake when a junior healer dropped the morning edition of the prophet was in for them. Lilly scanned the front page, but Ron noticed the flyer inside and pulled it out.
His breath caught, and Lilly looked up at him, "What is it?"
Ron held the flyer up, "13 orphans."
Lilly gave her copy of the paper a shook and looked at the flyer. She knew Neville had put it together. She recognised his neat handwriting and writing style.
"That's an unlucky number," Lilly said quietly.
Ron knew her well enough to recognise the dark humour as a sign of her trying not to show how hard it really was to read that. So he didn't take offence.
"Davis…" Lilly said with a frown, "Ron, the twins… Hollis and Gale Davis, they're Tracey's nephews."
Ron frowned, "I thought her brothers were in Azkaban?"
"They were," Lilly agreed, "But like everyone who abetted the Death Eaters without actually killing anyone, they got out about ten years ago."
Ron would typically have commented on how it couldn't have happened to a better person. But he didn't this time. Instead, he shook his head and cleared his throat.
"They don't discriminate, these Saboteurs, do they?"
Lilly shook her head, "No, they don't seem to."
"Kids of Death Eaters and good people…it doesn't matter," Ron ran a hand through his hair and looked at the flyer tearfully.
Lilly was just as thrown by it, but she was doing a better job of keeping her emotions beneath the surface.
"Shit," Ron breathed.
Lilly looked from the list of orphaned children up at Ron, "What?"
"Piper Grey," Ron said quietly, his finger hovering over the name, "6 months old…I caught her, Lilly…the baby that I caught."
Lilly's eyes widened; Ron had told her this story. They had talked quite a lot over the best part of a week they had spent being roommates.
"That was her?" Lilly asked, her voice catching.
Ron blinked tears away, "Her mum was terrified. She said she didn't matter because she was a squib. She just wanted her kid to have a better life."
"Hey," Lilly said. She pushed herself to her feet and limped across the room, wincing as her foot throbbed.
When she reached Ron's bed, she sat down heavily by his side and grabbed his hand.
"She will," Lilly promised Ron.
"How?" Ron asked in disbelief, "Her mother was a squib, and you know as well as I do that any child with 'squib' in their file is the last to get adopted from Lupin House."
Lilly shook her head, "That's not true, Ron. It's a common misconception, but trust me, it is not true. Someone will love her, and if they don't by some horrible twist of fate, then Harry will. Ginny will. Lupin House will be her home and her family, Ron. She survived, and she will live."
Ron swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded.
Lilly felt awful for him, so she squeezed his hand and said, "And we're your family – Harry, Neville, Daphne and me. I know you have a big family, but sometimes the one you find can help you through trauma better than the one who made you."
Ron managed a tearful smile. He squeezed Lilly's hand back and choked out, "Thanks, Lil."
Lilly nodded and stayed by his side, her own aches, pains and worries aside. Ron needed a friend, and she couldn't do much right now, but she could be that for him.
Shell Cottage
Charlus and Victoire were camped out at Shell Cottage because their flat in Diagon Alley had been cordoned off, like the rest of the street. Victoire said they could stay here, but Charlus knew they couldn't. As much as he liked her, Fleur would be overbearing, and that wasn't going to help Victoire settle with the baby.
They needed their own place, but Victoire's beach shack was not baby-safe or big enough for the three of them, which meant that Charlus would go to his parents and politely ask if he could have use of one of the family properties. He also knew that meant they would just give him the property, and he hadn't wanted handouts, but still – he was going to be a father.
When he walked into the kitchen on Saturday morning, he was working out the best time to speak to his parents about it. Right now, they were all still torn up by Uncle Sorenson's death, and the funeral was tomorrow.
Maybe best to give it a week, he thought absentmindedly.
Then he stopped in his tracks when he saw his twin sister standing in the kitchen. She was drinking coffee and chatting away quite happily to Fleur, in French.
Charlus rolled his eyes and cut in, "Quit making me look bad."
Almina looked over at her brother and smirked, "You would be able to speak French too if you had actually listened when Mama taught us, Charlie."
Charlus smiled slightly and held out his arms, "How was the honeymoon?"
Almina let him hug her, then she drew back and smiled, "It was good, thank you. Teddy and Nick are more than a little pissed off with their dads for not telling them about the Diagon Alley attack, but Nina and I understand why."
Charlus nodded.
"Coffee, Charlie?"
"Uh, yes, please," Charlus said, casting his gaze in Fleur's direction for a moment, "Thank you, Fleur."
"How are you, Charlie?" Almina asked, her tone a little softer now.
"I'm fine," Charlus said irritably, "Did Mum and Dad put you up to this?"
"No," Almina admitted, "They said you hadn't taken the news about Blake or Skye very well, so I wanted to check in on you."
Charlus looked her in the eye, "Because you were worried?"
"You're my brother, of course I was worried," Almina said quietly, "After everything that happened with Blake….well, nobody would blame you if things got out of hands."
"Things are not out of hand," Charlus promised, "I'm not fine, but I'm not falling apart either. Look, Mina…for a while I didn't really know where I was going. I just felt like I was drifting through life. Then I met Vic, and I felt anchored for the first time ever. I thought, by Merlin, I'll follow this girl to the end of the earth. If she'd gone to France, I'd have followed her, same as I'd follow her to the bloody Arctic."
Almina smiled slightly and caught Fleur doing the same out of the corner of her eye.
Charlus shook his head as he tried to get his thoughts in order, "And I'm building a career for myself now. Aunt Daphne reckons I'm first in line to manage the place when her and Bill take a step back. I love what I do, I love Victoire, and I'm going to be a dad. I feel like my life is finally on track, like I have a…."
"Purpose," Almina finished.
In unison, Fleur murmured, "le but."
Charlus looked up and nodded, "Yeah."
Almina reached up and kissed her brother on the cheek, "Then I think you are doing fine, even if it doesn't feel like it right now."
Charlus smiled slightly and grabbed her hand, "How are you doing? All four of you?"
Almina sighed and leaned back against the kitchen counter. She cradled her cup of coffee and shrugged, "We all lost friends, people we have known for our whole life. I mean,…we went through HGS with those people, then Hogwarts…it's not easy, but we have to keep moving forward because if we don't….what else do we have left?"
Charlus nodded numbly, "How's Nina?"
"Sick and cursing the baby because of it," Almina said with an amused smile, "But she's okay. She has another appointment coming up, so hopefully, that goes well. We're lucky, Charlus, both of us. We have a lot to look forward to, and I think that helps us move forward and leave the past where it belongs."
Charlus swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.
"Yeah, maybe it does."
- TBC -
