"Amelia."
"Lord Black," Amelia's eyebrow rose as she watched Sirius in amusement.
"Stop it!" he hissed, "I had no choice! Kitten bloody asked and you know how hard it is to say no to her!"
Amelia frowned, "Hermione asked you to take up the Black title? Whatever for?"
Sirius sighed, "It's a bit of a long story." Sighing, Amelia gestured for him to continue, her face turning paler as he began explaining what was going on.
"Sweet Mother of Circe! That's…it's…"
"Fucking unbelievable?"
"Yes!" she hissed. Silently he handed over the book.
"It's not like we can't produce the children to prove it," he muttered.
Silently Amelia flicked through the book. "Sweet Helga. This is…this is all fucking insane."
Sirius snorted. "Yes. It is and yet here we are. So, can you help?"
Amelia hummed, "Gods Sirius. Yes, we can help but you have to know that it's not going to be easy. These people, they're not going to want their secrets to come out!"
"I imagine not," Sirius agreed, "Did I tell you he recorded them though?"
Amelia's head shot up as she looked at him. "What?" she hissed.
"Go to Ezra Greengrass, third sentence down, fourth word in, tap it with your wand and say revalio."
Amelia paled as she complied and Ezra's voice filled the room. "He's done the same with others?"
"We haven't tested all of them and we can't work out the pattern but there's a recording embedded in every one we tested."
"Holy mother of Morgana." she breathed. "This is…Merlin Sirius, this is going to get you murdered."
He grimaced. "Hopefully not."
"Leave it with me. I'll…go through it, with a couple of people I trust." she paused. "After I've checked they're not in here. And then we'll come up with a plan."
"Thanks, Amy," he replied, relaxing finally.
"And Sirius?" he looked up at her warily, "I'm going to need your cooperation with this."
"Fine, on one condition?"
"Oh?" she arched a brow at him.
"That was under blood wards that could only be lifted by a direct line, blood Malfoy. I need his kid protected."
"Fuck." Amelia hissed, "It's not possible for anyone else to have touched it?"
"No. And we all know his reach is long. He has associates that he wouldn't think twice about using to punish his son. Reading between the lines he's already rather fond of turning his wand on the boy. Apparently, it carried on with his grandson. There also seems to be some queries as to whether he was potioning his daughter-in-law in order to keep her in line."
Amelia looked at him incredulously, "Is there anything good about this man?"
Sirius shrugged, "Unlikely, so the boy will need protected. The minute it gets out you have that, Lucius will know what he did."
"Alright. I'll sort it." she looked at him shrewdly, "You might be his best bet you know."
"What?"
"You're Lord Black, head of his mother's house. He's family. Just think about it."
"Fine." Sirius sighed, "Fine. Amelia?"
"Yes?" she sighed, beginning to sound impatient.
"The goblins said if the DMLE sends them a mandate they'll consider cooperating."
Amelia's jaw dropped as he darted from her office before she hexed him.
"Ah, thank you all for joining us!" Albus smiled at the group, the children all shuffled looking wary.
"Have you more information?" Sirius checked.
"No, no my boy, nothing like that but now that the book is in Amelia's capable hands, I thought it was time to discuss you all going home."
All of the children gaped, "And if it's not safe?" James asked.
"It should be, but we've built in protective measures into the time-turner. It gives you an hour to determine how things are. If you say your goodbyes, we can activate it this afternoon."
"Oh."
"Albus, are you sure?" Sirius frowned.
"Yes, it's time, Sirius." None of them looked convinced.
"What will actually happen?" Ophelia asked warily.
"You will be transported to this office. You said Severus was headmaster did you not?"
"Yes," she agreed reluctantly.
"Well then, he'll know to expect you."
Severus sighed. "How do I send them back if nothing has changed?"
"Oh, we'll discuss it once the children have gone. I assume there is a plan in place?"
Hermione and Theo exchanged a look before Hermione's eyes darted to Sirius.
"There will be by the end of the day," Remus confirmed. "Actually, if you wouldn't mind Severus, we've had some thoughts and we'd like your opinion."
Severus' lips curled in displeasure. "Very well. Once they're gone."
Remus nodded quickly, "Thank you."
"What are we going to do?" James asked hesitantly.
"What do you want to do?" Harry countered.
"I ah…I don't know."
Hermione hummed, "We can't take you out into the grounds but…we can take you to the room of requirement. Flying, picnic…."
"Yes, Aunt Mione!" he exclaimed.
Hermione turned to look at Alex and Ophelia, "Sure Mum," Alex smiled despite it not reaching his eyes.
"It's going to be alright," she reached for his hand, squeezing it.
"What if it's not?" he whispered.
"It will be," she replied, her tone brokering no argument. "There'll be a plan in place if we don't manage to fix things. It'll be fine."
"Promise?"
She smiled sadly, "Promise."
"Aunt Hermione?" Scorpius asked hesitantly, "Can my dad be here?"
"We'll contact him," she soothed, darting a look at Theo who nodded, reaching for his coin.
"Right, let's get the room set up," Harry voiced bracingly, "Nott can go and commandeer some elves for the picnic."
"Why me?" Theo protested.
"Do you know how to work the room?"
"Yes!," he muttered petulantly
"Huh. " Harry froze. "Regardless off you go."
"I don't know how to get into the kitchen!"
"Ugh, I'll go," Hermione muttered turning sharply and stalking off in the direction of the kitchen
"Right," Harry muttered, "To the seventh floor."
They spent the afternoon doing as they'd promised, flying in the grounds, sending Hermione's blood pressure soaring as her children competed with Harry and Draco doing increasingly risky stunts, the boys joining them as they egged each other on, before settling down to a picnic in the conjured sunshine. It would have been idyllic if there hadn't been an air of fear and sadness overshadowing them. Each of the children appeared to be attempting to memorise faces, and while none of them admitted it, their parents were all terrified they'd fail and the children would have to return.
"Right," Harry uttered finally, coming to a halt on the ground with a windswept Cassius not far behind him. "It's almost time to go back. Will we get this over with?"
Silently, they all stood, Ophelia and Alex automatically reaching for Hermione's hands to clasp them tightly.
"Can't we just stay here?" Ophelia begged suddenly. "We can be distant relatives, it'll be fine."
"Ophelia," Hermione murmured sadly, "You know you cant."
"But we could!" she begged, tears starting to fall, "I don't want to go back to that life! It was awful and…."
"And we're going to fix it." Draco cut in looking pale.
"But you don't know that!"
"They'll have a plan in place to return you if we fail." Hermione soothed. "Professor Snape will have it all figured out."
She opened her mouth to object again but shut it with a clack when she caught Alex's eyes. "Right let's go," Harry muttered.
The walk to the Headmaster's office was silent and tense, none of them daring to admit that they had doubts.
"Ah good, you're here!" Albus smiled cheerily as the door slid open. "Now, we've modified the time-turner. Fifteen turns should do it."
They nodded silently, making Severus sigh exasperatedly, "Well, say goodbye, if it all goes well you'll see them in less than a minute."
"Mum," Ophelia whispered, throwing her arms around her mother as Hermione squeezed her tightly before opening her arms for Alex.
"It's going to be fine," she promised, wondering who she was trying to convince.
Beside them, James was squeezing Harry quickly, moving to stand next to Cassius who was leaning slightly into Theo. Scorpius was the last to let go.
"Into the centre," Albus instructed, waving them forward. "Now, make sure the chain is around you all. Mr Granger if you'd like to do the honours?"
They stood silently, their fear palpable as Alex turned the dial and they disappeared from the room.