Door swallowed.
Ingress was just behind that door. So why was she nervous? (Well, Nymphadora was behind the door, but hopefully she'd regained enough memories that she was Ingress again...)
She had brushed her hair, putting on something new for once, something that could pass in all three worlds - a trench coat. Underneath, a simple blue blouse, between-style, and jeans, which could be either Below (from how faded and dirty they were), or really casual Above.
Her sister was behind that door. Well, when you put it that way... Door knocked.
A few moments later, a man opened the door, someone clearly from Above.
"Can I help you?" He seemed a bit confused.
"Yes. May I please enter? This is about the add you placed in the Prophet, concerning dreams of an alternate life." (She didn't really read the Prophet - a helpful rat had chittered to her, saying that her sister's family had written a 'letter to the paper', which made no sense to the rat.)
"Ah! Yes, please enter, I was expecting someone more... Wizardly. I'm Mr. Tonks, my wife Andromeda and daughter Nymphadora are in the living room. Let me take your coat." Smiling a thank you, Door carefully handed Mr. Tonks her trench coat - once again, it was the first new thing she had in years, and she would be very displeased if it got dirty.
"And you are...?"
She couldn't say she was Door, could she? If her sister had said she was dreaming of a girl called Door... well, a different name would be useful.
"I am Anastasia - call me Nastia. Anastasia... Mayhew." Richard wouldn't mind her borrowing his last name.
"This way, Nastia. You may call me Ted..." They entered the room, and a gorgeous woman got up from the couch and walked over to Door. "And this is my wife, Andromeda."
"I'm Nastia. It's a pleasure. Where is..." Door began, but then her sister walked in.
She was clumsy as always, and while her hair was a bit wilder, she looked a lot like she used to. Save for a few added years, a mint streak in her hair...
"Ingress?"
"Door?"
And suddenly, without a thought, Door swung up the little girl. This was her sister, her little one, the baby, oh, she missed her -!
"What is going on!"
And that would be Andromeda. Door paused, still holding Ingress. Right. Time for an explanation.
"This is my sister! I thought she was dead, cause Islington wanted to kill the whole family, long story. I was looking everywhere and I thought Ingress might not remember, so I carved remembering runes everywhere and put dream-catchers everywhere I could and suddenly this add pops up about recurring dreams about an alternate life, so I came her and oh my goodness you're alive!" Door may have been more emotional than she expected.
It didn't matter. She buried her nose into Ingress' hair.
"She's our daughter. You can't just take her away! We adopted her, blood adopted her, she's a Tonks-Black, she'll always be one, you can't just - " Andromeda was crying.
"She's part of London Below, whether she wants to be or not. Portico's Daughter will always be able to Open, and she's going to have to spend part of every day in Below... otherwise, Below will come for her."
Not quiet the truth. But Door was not letting Ingress go.
"So, like school? I go there to learn, then come back here?" Ingress tilted her head. Of course. Her sister was a genius.
"Sounds good. She'll spend the day, from... 9:00 to 3:00 in Below, and either Saturday night to Sunday or Friday night to Saturday with me. That way we have equal time with her. And if you disagree..."
"You're not taking my mummy away!" Ingress pushed away from Door. Ah.
"Of course I'm not. You could have two mummies and a sister, right? Andromeda is one mummy, the second one is the one you remember, and I'm your sister."
"You think we'd let you take our daughter without a fight? You little - "
"Sir. My name is Lady Door. I'm from London Below. I have a Veela, a Were-wolf and The Hunter on my side, and we don't bother with legalities. I had just found my sister, and am looking for her happiness. However, just from the fact that she's my sister, people could try to hurt her. Thus, I will take her to London Below Every day, to train her. Starting tomorrow. Is that understood?"
"No! I'm not just going to accept that!" Andromeda was clearly stubborn. "You can't just - "
"STOP FIGHTIN! I don't like it. Door's not gonna hurt me. She's not." Ingress... darling.
"I, Lady Door, swear on my life to protect Ingress, also known as Nymphadora Tonks, to the best of my ability. I also swear to hurt everyone who tries to stop me from seeing her, and to encourage my allies to hurt everyone who stops me from seeing my sister."
Her allies included a werewolf. The Tonkses crumbled, and that was that. The Contract was written, and the adults signed, allowing Ingress to attend her little school. Remus had started to teach them Math and Grammar, so Ingress would learn things beside throwing knives and opening locks.
Her first day was to be tomorrow.
The Opium Den had a front door which opened into a long hallway. The Hallway had a staircase leading up to a second floor, where the Marquis had a private study, filled with... things. Bottles of Opium, of course, and other potions and knickknacks. It had a table in the middle, and currently the Marquis was bent over a boy sleeping on the table. The Hallway downstairs also had a door, leading to a large room. The room had beds and beds, and normally had people sleeping off their Opium. Today, it was empty- the Marquise was busy. The door was unlocked.
Richard, instinct guiding him, grabbed Remus (who was holding Fleur), and shoved the two behind him, and into the empty room. Richard heard the door close - Remus must have shut it.
No matter - Richard was still moving forward, leaning forward, running, even as Greyback (it had to be Greyback, who else would it be?) leapt over the small boy and flew at him, knife raised.
Richard threw his spear and ducked out of the way of the knife. It was over too quickly - the spear at gone through Greyback's throat, and the little boy -
god, no, not dead, please, he was lying so still -
ah. Only knocked out. Not even a nick on his skin, Richard had mistaken dirt for blood.
He had just killed something.
Oh my god, he had killed, the blood pouring out of Greyback's neck -
Remus could deal with the boy, and Fleur and EVERYTHING. Richard needed a drink.
"Hey. I won. Come out." He called out, voice unsteady, and Remus opened the door, Fleur peaking out from behind him.
Richard REALLY needed a drink. Now. He needed to forget his first kill.
Several hours later, Fleur was back home in France, Harry was asleep in his room, and four adults were staring at each other. Each had told each other the full truth about what happened that day, from their point of view, and the Marquis had figured our what lead him to agree to help Harry -
"The fae! I had agreed to help them, which must have included in it that I agree to each of their contracts. Harry's magic isn't strong enough to seal the contract by itself, so it must have been from when I owed the fae!"
The Marquis had stopped owing Richard, as well - "I'll take the were's body, I'll clean up... just, you owe me now, which means the two of us are equal!"
It was Door who explained that a were's pelt could go for a lot on the Free Market, as it was always warm, sturdy, and was good at stopping blows. Furthermore, a were's eyes cost a pretty penny in London Between, while were's claws could be made into impressive daggers and sold in all three worlds. (Out of twenty claws, the four largest ones were being made into knives and given to Harry, Door, Remus, and one for the Marquis. Richard had his knife from the previous Hunter and his Spear).
Then the Marquis explained what he did to Harry's scar, making Remus turn pale.
"It was You-Know-Who who gave him the scar..."
"What, this Voldy-Mort fellow?" Richard's response made Remus flinch, then blink and crack a small smile, before steeling himself and saying the name.
"Voldemort, not Voldy-Mort."
"Hhmph. Never heard of a sane mother who names her child 'Voldemort'." Richard's response was matter of fact.
"Well, yes, but we'll find out Voldy's real name later. What the Marquis is suggesting is that he's still alive, right? Cause he might have made other soul shards..." Door wasn't sad, per se - more resigned. Of course it couldn't be this easy.
"It was a really small shard - I would say Voldy has maybe five more? Not counting the original, of course." The Marquis was more thoughtful than anything. It wasn't his problem, but it may be in the future - better let others take care of this. After all, he had customers in Between, and a war was the last thing he needed.
Unless he bet on it... But no. That was too dangerous; if Voldy got wind of his betting, he probably wouldn't like it.
"So. How'd you destroy these shards?" Door, of course. Right down to business.
"If I understand this, then what you call a soul shard, Betweeners call Horcruxes. You destroy them by destroying the container, in most cases. At one point, a hobbit threw Souron's horcrux into some magical volcano, so maybe a special fire would work?" Remus the researcher mused.
"Yes, and according to Russian history or mythology, there was a man who hid his heart or soul inside an egg, which was inside a box, which was inside - what, a tree? Something or other. Anyway, the man lived for a really long time, and he had a scar over his heart, and no one knew where his heart was." The Marquis always had a bit of random knowledge.
"So. Basically, we have get Harry some special fire or something. A portable volcano. So if Harry, when wandering around Between, just happens across a hor-crux he could kill it? I don't think so." Richard, ever so enlightening.
"No... We'll send someone else after them... I think it's time to open Dumbledore's letter." Door was decisive.
The letter was short and to the point, and Door summarized it beautifully: "'Dear Petunia, there was a war and your sister's dead. Please take care of your nephew. Love, Dumbledore'. There was also a bit about blood wards, but I'm not sure what those are, so whatever. Let's write to him! Look at all those titles, he sounds important. We'll tell him, Dear Dumbledore, we think your Voldy-Mort made soul shards. We think he's got around five, because the one in Harry didn't work, it dissipated or something, he's not a horcrux. Enjoy hunting them down! Love, someone who thinks Voldy-Mort lives. Remus, you could send it. The rest of us are going to bed."
As Door said, so it was.
Remus sad down, and carefully began to scribe:
Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,
This is Remus Lupin, a former student.
I had recently checked in on Harry Potter, and found what looked like a failed attempt at making a horcrux inside the scar. (I know what horcruxes are from the Black Library, courtesy of Sirius, when researching ways to ward the cottage where Lily and James were staying at.)
So far, all technically true.
The small soul-part inside Harry's scar was already pushed out by Harry's own magic, bit by bit, but judging from the size, I'd say that You-Know-Who had about five other horcruxes. Do not worry, the horcrux is not affecting Harry, and Harry is safe and growing up to be a fine young lad.
Please try and hunt them down!
-Remus.
P.S. To make sure you have help, I'm forwarding this letter to Mad-Eye Moody. Please send back any information you have on You-Know-Who.
Remus hesitated at the P.S. Should he forward it to Mad-Eye?
Yes. He should. Dumbledore was great and all, but he definitely couldn't do everything.
The Letter to Mad-Eye was pretty much the same - Dear Mad-Eyes, Voldemort has five horcruxes. Check up on Dumbledore and hunt them down. Harry's safe.
That was a true relief, Remus thought. Harry was safe.
