Ellen and Tyki woke on Christmas morning to find a stack of presents waiting at the foot of their bed. There were smaller piles for the other Noah who had left for Sheril's home down the street two days earlier to spend the holiday with his wife and her family.
"This is our first Christmas, you know?" Ellen murmured against her husband's neck.
He pulled her closer to him, kissing her forehead softly. "I would say it is long overdue, menina."
"Tyki!" Ellen squealed when he suddenly rolled them over, leaving her straddling across his waist. He looked her body up and down, a smug look on his face when she reached down and tweaked his nose.
"What? It's Christmas!" He smiled widely, pouting when she slid off of him.
Ellen rolled her eyes playfully and tugged at his arm. "Right, it's Christmas and we have presents to open! Get up, you great lump!"
With a few more tugs, Tyki was finally rising up out of the bed, settling down next to where Ellen was practically bouncing with excitement. She laughed in delight when Tyki unwrapped his very own Weasley jumper, the dark purple yarn standing out against his tan skin. Her own sweater was a beautiful mustard yellow color and she slid it on with a grin. They opened their other presents quickly, a happy feeling in the air.
Tyki had gotten magizoology books from Sheril and his wife, a new pair of dragon-hide gloves from Rhode, and a 'grow your own butterfly' kit from Jasdevit which inspired a new round of teasing from his wife. Ellen received candy from Harry and Ron, an enchanted planner from Hermione, a scarf, hat, and gloves from Rhode, Sheril, and his wife. The last gift she opened was a muggle box of condoms from Jasdevit, throwing it across the room with flushed cheeks.
Her eyes widened when Tyki simply handed her a sealed envelope when it came time for them to exchange presents. She tore into it carefully and a picture fluttered out onto the ground. With shaking hands she picked it up, gasping when she saw what it was.
In the picture was a small cottage nestled between a set of shops Ellen remembered seeing at Hogsmeade. Tyki was waving at her from the picture while a portly man handed him what looked like a set of keys. She let the picture fall back to the ground and looked up at her husband.
"I thought about what you said about having a home in Hogsmeade." Tyki admitted, taking her hands in his own. "It's all ours, menina. We have a home."
She threw herself at him with a smile, pressing kisses all over his face. "You aren't joking? You're serious?"
"What I say is true." He promised, cutting her off with a heated kiss. They fell to the ground with a laugh before continuing to kiss. Ellen finally pulled away, slightly out of breath but smiling.
She reached under the bed and pulled out a muggle manila envelope. "It isn't as grand a gesture as buying a house, but it took Jasdevit forever to find."
He opened the envelope quickly and his smile widened when he pulled out the aged piece of parchment. "Our marriage certificate.." Tyki breathed out. "How..?"
"It took a lot of searching, let me tell you." Ellen kissed him softly. "They found it in the archives underneath the Vatican. It must have been confiscated when they raided the manor after the Clan abandoned it. But it's the real thing, proof of the marriage between Allen Walker and Lord Tyki Mikk."
He lifted her up and threw her back onto the bed, her laughter quickly vanishing when he kissed her thoroughly. The locked the door with a quick wave of a wand and focused entirely on each other, the rest of the morning melting away.
They did not leave their bed until they heard someone calling for Christmas lunch. The pair dressed hastily and tidied themselves up with a few quick charms. Everyone was already eating when they finally made their way into the kitchen. Ellen carefully avoided Remus's gaze when Molly announced that they were going to be making another visit to Arthur.
Sheril had volunteered up his wife's car and before they knew it they were all on the way. The car had an Enlarging Spell on it for sure, as all twelve of them fit inside the tiny vehicle without a problem. The journey to St. Mungo's was quite quick, as there was very little traffic on the roads. A small trickle of witches and wizards were creeping furtively up the otherwise deserted street to visit the hospital. Harry and the others got out of the car, and Sheril drove off with a promise that he would be there when they were done.
They found Arthur propped up in bed with the remains of his turkey dinner on a tray in his lap and a rather sheepish expression on his face.
"Everything all right, Arthur?" asked Molly, after they had all greeted Arthur and handed over their presents.
"Fine, fine," said Arthur, a little too heartily. "You — er — haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"
"No," said Molly suspiciously, "why?"
"Nothing, nothing," said Arthur airily, starting to unwrap his pile of gifts. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh, Harry — this is absolutely wonderful —"
For he had just opened Harry's gift of fuse-wire and screwdrivers. Molly did not seem entirely satisfied with Arthur's answer. As her husband leaned over to shake Harry's hand, she peered at the bandaging under his nightshirt.
"Arthur," she said, with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap, "you've had your bandages changed. Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told me they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."
"What?" said Arthur, looking rather frightened and pulling the bed covers higher up his chest. "No, no — it's nothing — it's — I —"
He seemed to deflate under Molly's piercing gaze."Well — now don't get upset, Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea. He's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in um complementary medicine. I mean, some of these old Muggle remedies well, they're called stitches, Molly, and they work very well on — on Muggle wounds —"
Molly let out an ominous noise somewhere between a shriek and a snarl. Remus strolled away from the bed and over to the werewolf, who had no visitors and was looking rather wistfully at the crowd around Arthur; Bill muttered something about getting himself a cup of tea and Fred and George leapt up to accompany him, grinning.
"Do you mean to tell me," said Molly, her voice growing louder with every word and apparently unaware that her fellow visitors were scurrying for cover, "that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?"
"Not messing about, Molly, dear," said Arthur imploringly. "It was just — just something Pye and I thought we'd try — only, most unfortunately — well, with these particular kinds of wounds — it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped —"
"Meaning?"
"Well well, I don't know whether you know what — what stitches are?"
"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together," said Molly with a snort of mirthless laughter, "but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid —"
"I fancy a cup of tea too," said Harry, jumping to his feet. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny almost sprinted to the door with him. Ellen grabbed Tyki by the wrist and followed them out quickly. As the door swung closed behind them, they heard Molly shriek, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"
"Typical Dad," said Ginny, shaking her head as they set off up the corridor. "
They walked along the corridor through a set of double doors and found a rickety staircase lined with more portraits of brutal-looking Healers. As they climbed it, the various Healers called out to them, diagnosing odd complaints and suggesting horrible remedies. Ron was seriously affronted when a medieval wizard called out that he clearly had a bad case of spattergroit.
He rounded on the others after dealing with the portrait. "What floor's this?"
"I think it's the fifth," said Hermione.
"Nah, it's the fourth," said Harry, "one more —"
But as he stepped onto the landing he came to an abrupt halt, staring at the small window set into the double doors that marked the start of a corridor signposted spell damage. A man was peering out at them all with his nose pressed against the glass. He had wavy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a broad vacant smile that revealed dazzlingly white teeth.
"Blimey!" said Ron, also staring at the man.
"Oh my goodness," said Hermione suddenly, sounding breathless.
"Professor Lockhart!"
"Well, hello there!" he said. "I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?"
"Hasn't changed much, has he?" Harry muttered to Ginny, who grinned.
"Er — how are you, Professor?" said Ron, sounding slightly guilty. Ellen couldn't help but wonder why he felt so bad for the man that was obviously their old professor.
"I'm very well indeed, thank you!" The man exuberantly, pulling a rather battered peacock-feather quill from his pocket. "Now, how many autographs would you like? I can do joined-up writing now, you know!"
"Er — we don't want any at the moment, thanks," said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry, who asked, "Professor, should you be wandering around the corridors? Shouldn't you be in a ward?"
The smile faded slowly from Lockhart's face. For a few moments he gazed intently at Harry, then he said, "Haven't we met?"
"Er yeah, we have," said Harry. "You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?"
"Teach?" repeated Lockhart, looking faintly unsettled. "Me? Did I?"
And then the smile reappeared upon his face so suddenly it was rather alarming. "Taught you everything you know, I expect, did I? Well, how about those autographs, then? Shall we say a round dozen, you can give them to all your little friends then and nobody will be left out!"
But just then a head poked out of a door at the far end of the corridor and a voice said, "Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you wandered off to?"
A motherly looking Healer wearing a tinsel wreath in her hair came bustling up the corridor, smiling warmly at Harry and the others. "Oh Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day too! Do you know, he never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?"
"We're doing autographs!" Gilderoy told the Healer with another glittering smile. "They want loads of them, won't take no for an answer! I just hope we've got enough photographs!"
"Listen to him," said the Healer, taking Lockhart's arm and beaming fondly at him as though he were a precocious two-year-old. "He was rather well known a few years ago; we very much hope that this liking for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be coming back a little bit. Will you step this way? He's in a closed ward, you know, he must have slipped out while I was bringing in the Christmas presents, the door's usually kept locked not that he's dangerous! But," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "bit of a danger to himself, bless him. Doesn't know who he is, you see, wanders off and can't remember how to get back. It is nice of you to have come to see him —"
"Umm," said Ellen, gesturing uselessly at the floor above, "actually, we were just —"
But the Healer was smiling expectantly at them, and her voice trailed away into nothingness. They looked at one another rather hopelessly and then followed Lockhart and his Healer along the corridor.
"Let's not stay long," Ron said quietly.
The Healer pointed her wand at the door of the Janus Thickey ward and muttered "Alohomora." The door swung open and she led the way inside, keeping a firm grasp on Gilderoy's arm until she had settled him into an armchair beside his bed.
"This is our long-term resident ward," she informed them all in a low voice. "For permanent spell damage, you know. Of course, with intensive remedial potions and charms and a bit of luck, we can produce some improvement. Gilderoy does seem to be getting back some sense of himself, and we've seen a real improvement in Mr. Bode, he seems to be regaining the power of speech very well, though he isn't speaking any language we recognize yet. Well, I must finish giving out the Christmas presents, I'll leave you all to chat."
"And — oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?" Ellen jerked around. The curtains had been drawn back from the two beds at the end of the ward and two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds: a formidable-looking old witch wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur, and a pointed hat decorated with what was unmistakably a stuffed vulture and, trailing behind her looking thoroughly depressed — Neville.
Her heart clenched as she took in the sight of her friends sitting in hospital beds, looking dazed. She could dimly feel Tyki tighten his grip on her hand in concern, but it was like she was in a trance. Looking at them brought her back to the night she had discovered them, all the rage and helplessness she had felt back then was flowing through her once more.
Ron had looked up at the sound of the name "Longbottom" too, and before anyone could stop him had called, "Neville!"
Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him.
"It's us, Neville!" said Ron brightly, getting to his feet. "Have you seen? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"
"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" said Neville's grandmother graciously, bearing down upon them all. Neville looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull purple flush was creeping up his plump face and he was not making eye contact with any of them. Ellen was torn between the urge to run to Alice and Frank and wanting to shield Neville from everything that was happening at the moment.
"Ah, yes," said his grandmother, looking closely at Harry and sticking out a shriveled, clawlike hand for him to shake. "Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you."
"Er — thanks," said Harry, shaking hands. Neville did not look at him, but stared at his own feet, the color deepening in his face all the while.
"And you two are clearly Weasleys," Mrs. Longbottom continued, proffering her hand regally to Ron and Ginny in turn. "Yes, I know your parents — not well, of course — but fine people, fine people and you must be Hermione Granger?"
Hermione looked rather startled that Mrs. Longbottom knew her name, but shook hands all the same. Mrs. Longbottom's gaze finally fell on Ellen, her eyes narrowing. "And here I thought you'd run off, Miss Walker."
Ellen stared back. "I'm back now."
Mrs. Longbottom did not say a word, only turned back to Hermione. "Yes, Neville's told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven't you? He's a good boy," she said, casting a sternly appraising look down her rather bony nose at Neville, "but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say."
And she jerked her head in the direction of the two beds at the end of the ward, so that the stuffed vulture on her hat trembled alarmingly.
"What?" said Ron, looking amazed. "Is that your dad down the end, Neville?"
"What's this?" said Mrs. Longbottom sharply. "Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?"
Neville took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling, and shook his head. "Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" said Mrs. Longbottom angrily. "You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!"
"I'm not ashamed," said Neville very faintly, still looking anywhere but at the people standing in front of him.
"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!" said Mrs. Longbottom.
"My son and his wife," she said, turning haughtily to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, "were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers."
Hermione and Ginny both clapped their hands over their mouths. Ron stopped craning his neck to catch a glimpse of Neville's parents and looked mortified.
"They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the Wizarding community," Mrs. Longbottom went on. "Highly gifted, the pair of them. I — yes, Alice dear, what is it?"
Neville's mother had come edging down the ward in her nightdress. Ellen felt her eyes prickle as she truly looked at her friend for the first time in fifteen years. No longer was Alice the round faced, happy girl she had known. In her place was a pale, gaunt looking woman with haunted eyes. She did not seem to want to speak, or perhaps she was not able to, but she made timid motions toward Neville, holding something in her outstretched hand.
"Again?" said Mrs. Longbottom, sounding slightly weary. "Very well, Alice dear, very well — Neville, take it, whatever it is."
But Neville had already stretched out his hand, into which his mother dropped an empty Droobles Blowing Gum wrapper.
"Very nice, dear," said Neville's grandmother in a falsely cheery voice, patting his mother on the shoulder. But Neville said quietly, "Thanks Mum."
His mother tottered away, back up the ward, humming to herself. Neville looked around at the others, his expression defiant, as though daring them to laugh.
"Well, we'd better get back," sighed Mrs. Longbottom, drawing on long green gloves. "Very nice to have met you all. Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper your bedroom by now."
But as they left, Ellen was sure she saw Neville slip the wrapper into his pocket. The door closed behind them.
"I never knew," said Hermione, who looked tearful.
"Nor did I," said Ron rather hoarsely.
"Nor me," whispered Ginny.
They all looked at Harry.
"I did," he said glumly. "Dumbledore told me but I promised I wouldn't mention it that's what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville's parents until they lost their minds."
"Bellatrix Lestrange did that?" whispered Hermione, horrified. "That woman Kreacher's got a photo of in his den?"
Ellen swallowed hard and turned towards Harry. "You lot go ahead. I, I'm going to stay here and visit them for a bit, alright?"
He looked at her with understanding. remembering the story she had told him that first night in the Ark. The four left Ellen and Tyki in the ward, walking in silence until Ron piped up. "What was that about?"
"She knew them." Is all that Harry would say, staring off down the corridor. "They were her friends."
The next couple days passed in a surprising blur. There was no mention of anything that had gone down in the hospital, and if Ellen had returned to them hours later with a depressed look on her face, no one said anything about it. Rhode and the twins had returned to Grimmauld place the day after Christmas, explaining that Sheril had gone off with his wife to visit his in-law's.
Though Rhode had promised Harry that they would work on keeping Voldemort out, she had yet to approach him about it again. "Now isn't the time." Was all she said when asked. "He has to be more open to it or it will never work."
Unfortunately, the Order didn't agree with her policy and they had decided that Snape was to be teaching Harry Occlumency in the meantime. And oh, how they had fought over it. The entire announcement had been met by resistance from the Clan, who insisted that they be the ones to handle the matter.
"We actually know a thing about sharing a headspace!" Rhode had snapped during one meeting, her eyes a glowing yellow. "You stupid humans don't know anything!"
But in the end, Snape was to be the one to teach him and there was nothing that Ellen could do about it. That decision brought them to where they were at that point. Harry had been arguing against the lessons for over an hour. Snape and Sirius had come almost come to blows when the kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione, came inside, all looking very happy, with Arthur walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pajamas covered by a mackintosh.
"Cured!" he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. "Completely cured!"
He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, which was also suspended in mid-action, both Sirius and Snape looking toward the door with their wands pointing
into each other's faces. Harry was between the two looking like he was trying to stop him while Rhode and Ellen had the older men in firm grips, separating them.
"Merlin's beard," said Arthur, the smile sliding off his face, "what's going on here?"
Both Sirius and Snape lowered their wands as best as they could. When Rhode released him, Snape pocketed his wand and swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back. "Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter."
He was gone. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side.
"But what's been going on?" asked Arthur again.
"Nothing, Arthur," said Sirius, rubbing his arm where Ellen had been holding him. "Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends." With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. "So you're cured? That's great news, really great."
"Yes, isn't it?" said Molly, leading her husband forward into a chair. "Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" she added, rather menacingly.
"Yes, Molly dear," said Arthur meekly.
That night's meal should have been a cheerful one with Mr. Weasley back amongst them; Sirius was angry underneath the facade he was putting on, Ellen could just tell. She quietly told Moody to get Harry out of the room was dinner was done so that she could speak to her old friend in private.
Once it was just them, she reached over and lightly flicked his nose. "Ow!" Sirius complained, rubbing his face. "What was that for?"
"Would it kill you to not be a total git for once in your life?" Ellen shrilled. "I don't bloody care about your issues with Snape, this isn't about you!"
"I don't trust him with Harry." Sirius snapped in response.
"And neither do I!" She threw her hands in the air. "You know that I want nothing more that for the Order to let Rhode handle this."
Sirius snorted in derision. "Of course you do. You think that everything can be fixed with your little Clan, don't you? Just think we're all so useless now that you've got them?"
"It isn't like that!"
"The bloody hell it's not!" Sirius roared, his anger finally coming to the surface. "All I've heard you say for the last seventeen years is how awful they are, how dangerous they are, but now that you've been shagging one they're suddenly people that we should trust?"
Her hand smacked across his face with a loud crack. "How. Dare. You." Ellen seethed. "He is my husband, not some random bloke that I decided to shack up with!"
"Must be one hell of a husband to make you change your mind so quickly!" He rolled his eyes. "Weren't you the one that went into hiding for over week not just a few months ago because the thought of them even knowing where you were was so bloody terrifying? What happened to that?"
"They're my family, Sirius." Ellen cried out. "They're all that I've got that is real and true. You're all going to leave me one day and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Do you want me to be alone like that again?"
"I thought I was your family too." He said quietly, turning away from her.
Ellen's face softened for a moment. "You know that you're my family, Paddy. No one could ever replace you. But the Clan, they're something different."
She turned him back to face her, cupping his face in her hands. "They were the first ones to see me as me. Not as a dog, or a monster, or even a prophecy. These people looked at me just like you did and they saw Allen Walker, nothing more, nothing less. I can't just walk away from them again. They've changed so much Sirius, we can trust them."
"You really think that we can?" Sirius leaned into her hold, the tension melting from his body. "Ellen, what if this is all just a show and they take off with you in the middle of the night like they promised."
"Rhode was being a tiny bit dramatic with that." Ellen admitted with a small laugh. "They aren't going anywhere. They've all got lives now. Jasdevit are Beschützer with the German ministry, Sheril has a wife, Rhode is a student. Hell, Tyki just bought us a cottage in Hogsmeade! None of them plan on leaving for a long time."
Sirius breathed out a sigh and wrapped her in a tight bear hug. "I meant what I said, no one is taking my sister away from me. I'm sorry Ellen."
"When all this is over, it'll be better." She promised him. "You can sell this ghastly place and buy a lovely, new flat and live your life the way it's meant to be lived. You can find happiness Paddy."
"I know," Sirius murmured. "But, Ellen, you need to talk to Moony. You're breaking his heart."
Ellen sighed roughly. "He's not going to like what I have to say. You know that."
"It's the right thing to do."
They held each other for a long moment while Sirius shook. Whether it was from residual anger or tears, Ellen did not know and she didn't ask. She just let her brother hug her tight. "So," he said softly. "what's with the whole Allen thing?"
"She giggled despite herself and moved to sit down. "Now that is a story in itself. You see..."
"You aren't joking? You're serious?" - literally my favorite line of this chapter. My brother recently proposed to his now fiancee and that was what she said, I thought it was the cutest thing and I wanted to include it in here somewhere :)
Sorry, I know it's short but the next chapter will be out Friday and it's a real beast of a chapter so there's that :)