"Bugger." Titania whispered.
"And you better forget language like that, young lady, at least until you get to Hogwarts. What I don't know won't hurt your bum. Got it?" Paddy frowned.
"Yes, Da…" Titania mock-glared at him.
"Good. So… how are we going to get out of here, then?"
"We'll use the linked trunks, to get back to the tent and Buckbeak. Then Dobby will bring the trunk to us. Then we can turn back to August first 1990."
"I wonder how Pomfrey and Dumbledore are going to react to no Harry?" Paddy grinned.
The clearing was small, the tent filling one side and Buckbeak making himself a nest of twigs on the other. Paddy and Titania looked at the industrious hippogriff and shrugged.
"Someone's going to have to feed him, properly. I know Dobby brought plenty of ferrets or rabbits or whatever, but I draw the line at hand feeding animals that are larger than me." Paddy huffed.
Titania snorted and left the tent, the early morning light bathing her in silver and gold, lighting her hair and giving her a halo. Paddy looked at her and sighed. She was so pretty but under that she was so his daughter, not to mention anything left over from James and Lily. Her looks were a complete and utter lie, she was going to be an evil little shit and he loved her. She'd been his daughter for less than an hour and already he couldn't imagine life without her.
Outside, Titania paused where Buckbeak could see her and instead of bowing, she curtsied low, her robes flaring around her. Buckbeak considered her for barely a second, before chirping and calling to her. She picked up a ferret and approached him, holding the ferret out to the side.
"Hello Beaky, how you doing? You hungry? Want a ferret? Nice and tasty." She crooned but he ignored the ferret and instead nudged at her until she was close enough for him to preen her hair. "Oh, no, not happening, pal." She laughed and gently pushed his head away. She might not be Harry Potter anymore, but she still had unruly hair, albeit golden blonde and curly instead of black and just plain messy.
Buckbeak took no offence at her and after chittering at her, he gently accepted the ferret and settled down in his makeshift nest.
Titania laughed softly and headed back into the tent. "Beaky's fed and having a nap." She said to her father, giving him a hug as she passed him on her way to the kitchen area. "We need to come up with a way to disguise him, something better than Hagrid dusting him with coal-soot and changing his name to Witherwings."
"That… I can do. There's a colour change charm that can be tied to his blood, the residue dissipates after a few months, but the colour doesn't. One of the few things that Walburga Black taught her sons, that was useful and not a curse."
"Urgh, you have my sympathy, my deepest sympathy, even as a portrait she was foul." Titania screwed up her nose.
"Yep." Paddy stretched. "Want something to eat?"
"You are not allowed in the kitchen, Da. I remember Remus berating you for making toast and setting the stove on fire… which considering you weren't using the stove, is pretty impressive." Titania grinned.
"Now, listen here, Kitten…" Paddy started.
"Nope, my kitchen." She said.
"No, my kitchen. Missy Titania and Master Paddy stay out." Dobby stood in the archway to the kitchen with a heavy wooden spoon in his hand, which he waved at them. "Mine. Missy Titania and Master Paddy employ Dobby to look after them and Dobby will."
Titania and Paddy looked at Dobby, then each other and nodded. "Yes, Dobby." They said together.
"So… no kitchen for either of us." Paddy sighed. "He's going to end up ruling our house, you know that, right?"
"Of course, he is." Titania laughed.
"Just as long as you know. Um…? When are we doing the time turning?" Paddy asked. "And how do we do it?"
"Easiest way is to loop the chain around your neck and turn the hourglass." Titania said slowly.
"Not what I meant, kitten." Paddy huffed. "If we're taking Buckbeak and Dobby, how are we doing it? Pack the tent and then what? The chain around all of us? Put Dobby and Buckbeak in a trunk? Stun Beaky? What?"
"I kinda figured that we'd give Beaky a sleeping draught, transfigure him into a statue and put him in a trunk." Titania shrugged and Paddy nodded. "As for Dobby? I just don't know. Maybe we should ask him, what he prefers?"
"All yours, kitten. I want that shower." With that Paddy left the main room of the tent and headed for a tiny bathroom, that was jammed in between the kitchen and a bedroom.
"I hear ya." Titania headed for the kitchen. "Dobby?" She stopped at the entrance.
"Yes, Missy Titania?"
"Da and I are going to shower, so no hurry on food, just yet. Also, have a think. Once we've eaten, Da and I are going to use the time turners, if you're coming with us, work out how. We're going to give Beaky a sleeping draught, transfigure him into a statue and put him in a trunk until we get a place of our own. Do you want to stay with him or us, or something different? Think about it."
"Dobby will. Missy goes and has shower and Dobby will be ready."
Two weeks later and nearly four years into the past, Titania huffed at her father.
"That's it. We're going today." She muttered.
"Going where?" Paddy was enjoying the early morning sun and a nice hot cup of tea, before Dobby brought out breakfast.
"The Ministry." Titania answered. "I've had enough. This is nice, but I want a place of our own. Somewhere I can fly with Beaky, ride a broom and have picnics in the woods." She huffed. "I want a room of my own, that I can decorate how I like. A garden that I can plant what I want in. And a library to put all the books that I brought from before." It wasn't quite a rant, but Hermione would be proud of how close she'd come without actually ranting.
Paddy raised his head and looked at her. "Really?" He grimaced. "That means we have to go to Gringotts and open vaults, get keys and tests." He whined.
"Yes, I know you're afraid of the goblins, but for Merlin's sake, Da… It has to happen sooner or later and I'd prefer to get it over and done with."
"Yes, kitten." He sighed. "I'm not sure I'm hungry, now." He leant forward and put his head in his hands.
"That's okay, I'll eat your share of the muffins." Titania smirked as Paddy sat up quickly.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." He glared at her. "You keep your thieving little fingers off my muffins, daughter, and I'll buy you a broom."
"I've got a broom, Da." She laughed. "Harry had Hermione and Ron go shopping for him. There's a pair of firebolts in my veil trunk. One of which Padfoot bought. I wasn't leaving that behind."
"Oh, kitten…" Paddy sighed and reached over to give her a hug. "I know you miss them. I miss Moony, too."
"You know, I prayed that they'd find each other." She whispered. "Those that died at Hogwarts. We were really lucky, Da. We had the remains of the order, I think there were only twelve or fourteen of us, and the D.A., another thirty, perhaps. Outside of that we had the staff and maybe… twenty students."
"Oh, kitten."
"We took on the greatest dark lord in modern history, along with his army, and we whipped their asses." She sighed. "Although, I have to admit, it didn't feel like it at the time. Those we lost were… too much. Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, Remus, Tonks, Snape, Fred, Lavender, Colin. They weren't just our friends, they were our family. And that snake-faced bastard took them away from us." A tear ran down her cheek. "So, yeah, I prayed. To god, to Merlin, Morgana and even to Lady Magic. I hope that they're happy and at peace."
Paddy said nothing, he just pulled his daughter from her seat and into his arms. She so rarely talked about the war, that he wasn't going to stop her now.
"For all that…" She went on. "We had incredibly few losses. A handful of people. Less than a hundred of us stood against him and his army and we lost less than fifteen people. Against his army of… how many? Three hundred? Four hundred?" She buried her head in Paddy's shoulder. "Seeing Fred… that was the hardest thing. Remus was hard, but he was more distant, a favoured Uncle, but Fred was there every day… except for that last year at school and our year on the run, but no-one was there for that but Ron, Hermione and me." She wiped her face on a handkerchief that Paddy hastily conjured. "Thanks." She whispered.
"Should I be looking for a mindhealer for you to talk to, Kitten?"
"It's not just me, Da, you have just as many problems as I do, probably more. You had to put up with Walburga for years before Azkaban, I just had Petunia and Hogwarts." Titania reminded him.
"It's going to be hard on you, going to Hogwarts, isn't it?" Paddy asked.
"Yeah, first year is going to be a bitch. In more ways than one."
"Oh?"
"Ginny had Tom's diary and was writing in it. He was possessing her, draining her. He made her open the chamber of secrets and let the basilisk out into the school." Titania answered.
"Oh, gods. Don't tell me, please don't. It just makes me not want to let you go." Paddy's arms tightened around her.
"I'll be fine, I'll stay near the other girls in my dorm, near Ginny, she was never in danger in the halls. If I stay near her, I'll be fine. And Harry saves the day, in late May. No-one was killed, Mrs Norris, Sir Nicholas and four students were petrified, that was it." Titania assured her father. "Harry deals with it, I don't have worry, too much. I'm more concerned about the dementors in Harry's third year. I'll have to work on my Patronus and hope that it changed with the conversion or that I can change its shape, me and Harry both having stags for patroni is… not good."
"I can help you with that. James and I helped Remus with his. It was a werewolf, Moony, which was a bit too much of a give-away. We spent weeks working with him to disguise it. You'll have to think really hard on what you want it to be." Paddy said. "Focus really hard."
"I know what I wanted. I wanted your Grimm but that could be a bit telling, too. So, I'm going to go with my Animagus form." She huffed. "Once we get a place of our own and can bring the pensieve out, so I can watch your memory and work out what I am."
"Once we have a place of our own." Paddy nodded, suddenly keen to get moving.