World Enough and Time
Chapter Eight – Of a Memory
James stared at the reporter in front of him, his earlier encounter with Pansy Parkinson flooding his mind.
"Do you really think your department will be able to retrieve his memories? We were in the same year at Hogwarts, you know, and such good friends."
Well, they certainly did not look like good friends at the moment. Pansy was obviously doing her best to avoid Terry's notice entirely. She moved stealthily behind the shelves of time turners taking care to keep her footsteps as quiet as possible. James followed her, his brow pinched in confusion as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. As he watched, Parkinson reached out a hand to grasp one of the shimmering hourglasses in front of her but her sleeve caught on the corner of the shelf and her arm jerked. Several time turners wobbled dangerously and James saw the panic in Pansy's eyes as she visibly held her breath. A moment later the delicate objects had settled without falling, but Pansy's presence was no longer a secret.
Peering around the shelves James saw Terry freeze in the act of closing his bag. He turned around from his desk and squinted in the dim blue light for the source of the noise but Pansy remained frozen and in shadow, all but invisible to the Unspeakable. Terry shook himself and turned away again.
It felt torturous to watch the scene in front of him unfold and not be able to intervene, to call out a warning, to demand to know what Pansy Parkinson was up to. James clenched his hands into fists to stop them fidgeting restlessly.
Terry swung his bag over his shoulder and, without turning around, started walking away to the exit. Pansy remained still for another second, her breathing shallow and silent, her eyes wide, and then reached out once again to snatch a time turner from the shelf. Her long painted nails glinted in the blue light like talons. With no difficulty this time Pansy succeeded in grasping the small glass object. She wrapped it gingerly in a small cloth and slid the hourglass carefully into her pocket. She smirked.
It was the same smirk he had seen her wear in his office where she asked him questions about Terry and his work and… and Lily.
"And your sister, her name is Lily, isn't it? Such a pretty girl."
Pansy brushed right past James, missing him by less than an inch, not that he was really there. Instead of following her James could only stare at the spot she had occupied a moment before, where she had stolen a time turner, and all he could think was that Pansy Parkinson had had something to do with his sister's disappearance. James felt his heartbeat speed up as anger started pumping through his veins. He turned quickly on the spot and hurried in the direction Pansy had gone, momentarily forgetting that he was in a memory and that this Pansy Parkinson would not be able to see or hear him. Nor could he do anything to her.
He caught up to the reporter easily and realized immediately that he had missed something. Terry was speaking.
"-are you doing here?"
He saw Terry and Pansy facing each other, all hands visible and no wands in sight. He slowed his pace as he reached them and saw nothing but confusion on Terry's face and a fake smile on Pansy's. She laughed lightly and James flinched unconsciously at the sound. Terry's hand drifted towards his pocket where James was sure his wand would be stowed.
"I was looking for you, Trevor," Pansy answered. "I wanted to—"
"You're not allowed in here, Parkinson. How did you get past security?"
Terry's hand had reached into the pocket of his robes. Again James cursed that he could only watch and do nothing.
"Well I... didn't see any security," Pansy said, her sculpted eyebrows rising incredibly high on her forehead. She slid an arm around behind her and James saw her grasp the wand that was tucked into her belt. "I didn't know. I – I need your help, Trevor."
"It's Terry," Terry told her curtly. He smoothed down his dark hair with one hand while the other remained, James was sure, clenched around his wand. James wanted to yell at him, to tell him to curse her, that obviously she was up to something. He took a step closer and wished the two people in front of him were tangible. He could have easily tackled Parkinson to the ground, taken the time turner from her, and stopped her from doing whatever it was she had planned.
Pansy pursed her lips, the corners of her mouth twisting up in a simpering smile. "Well, of course, Terry, that's what I said."
Finally, Terry drew his wand and pointed it directly in Pansy's face. She blinked in surprise for a moment before quickly drawing her own out in front of her and aimed at the man in front of her. For a second neither of them moved at all.
"What are you doing in the Department of Mysteries, Parkinson," Terry demanded, his patience gone.
"Oh I just needed something," Pansy answered lightly, apparently not bothered by the wand in her face. She surreptitiously tilted her own upward so that it was pointing at Terry's face.
"And what would that be?"
"I need you to forget that I was ever here, Terry."
Her tone was the harshest James had ever heard her use and he looked worriedly at Terry, who looked properly taken aback. He opened his mouth and started to flick his wrist in a wand movement but he never got the chance to finish it. With more skill than James would have thought she could possess Pansy disarmed Terry with a quick flick of her wand and the Unspeakable's eyes widened comically as he heard his only defense clattering somewhere across the room.
"Don't worry," Pansy told him, smirking, her eyes glinting like ice in the blue light that shown all around them. "You won't remember a thing." She raised her wand up to Terry's face. James stepped forward reflexively, anger and adrenaline moving him to step in front of the other man but the Pansy in the memory gave no notice of him. He was not really there.
As if from Terry's point of view, James watched as Pansy's wand was now directed right between his eyes and he stood still and unhelpful between Terry and the spell that he knew was coming. He saw Pansy's smirk widen, saw her tilt her chin upward, and heard her say one word.
"Obliviate."
Teddy and Albus were in the kitchen, sitting near the fireplace as had become habit, waiting for news that was unlikely to come.
The only sound in the Potter's kitchen was the restless tapping of Al's foot on the hard stone floor, a steady rhythm but one that was beginning to grate on Teddy's nerves. He sat slouched in his seat, his arms folded across his chest and his head back, staring into space, waiting for an epiphany.
The two young wizards had been sitting in the kitchen for a few hours now, not moving, not talking, just sitting. Teddy's stiff muscles began to protest the wooden chair he was currently reclined in and he sat up straighter, raising an arm to run a hand through his straggly brown hair. He had not been able to morph at all lately, not even the color of his eyes, and the shade of his hair was beginning to irritate him.
Everything irritated him lately.
"Albus, would you stop that incessant tapping," he ground out, making eye contact with the young man across the table.
"Sorry," Al said, clearly not sorry at all and Teddy suppressed a sigh of irritation before looking away.
They were the only two in the large house, as was common the past few days. James and Harry had gone back to work and Ginny, who did much of her work from home, was too anxious to spend time in the house and spent hours over at Ron and Hermione's. So that left Teddy and Albus and while Teddy was glad to have company, Al's presence had begun to wear on his patience.
A few minutes of silence passed and then Al started tapping his foot again, his chin resting on his hand, his eyes staring off at nothing. Teddy pressed his hands to his face in frustration.
"Al-"
"Sorry," Al said, more insistent this time but no more sincere.
"What's got you so restless anyway? Besides the obvious I mean," Teddy added. He held a vague hope that conversation would siphon out some of his frustration.
Al shifted his weight restlessly. "It's just that… she had to be out to get the Map back," he insisted for what must have been the hundredth time. "It was found along with the time turner."
Teddy refrained from commenting and merely raised his eyebrows, waiting for Al to continue.
"McGonagall said they found the Map near the Great Hall, but what would it have been doing there – what would Lily have been doing there – when it's nowhere near Filch's office or Gryffindor Tower?
Teddy scratched absently at his chin and considered this. "She could have been heading down to the kitchens," he suggested.
"There are faster ways to the kitchens from Filch's office," Al refuted immediately. And as a former owner of the Map himself, Teddy knew he was correct.
They stared at each other for a long moment and Teddy waited, sure he knew what Albus was getting at but wanting to hear him say it. Both he and Albus had leaned forward, eager to be talking about anything that might have the slightest chance of helping Lily. Even if they had had this conversation before it felt better than doing nothing at all.
"She may have been up to something other than getting the Map back," Al said quietly.
Teddy nodded. "But what?"
Albus scowled. "Well we don't know, do we," he snapped, his posture slumping. "Just we haven't known the last fifty times we've had this conversation. Fat lot of good that does us."
"It's something," Teddy insisted, but the brief spark of energy had left him even quicker than it had come. They truly did know nothing about the night Lily disappeared.
"It's nothing, and you know it," Al grumbled, his gaze falling to the cold and empty grate of the kitchen fireplace.
"There's no reason to get snippy with me," Teddy said, "I'm only trying to help."
"Well, you're not helping," Al bit out, turning to glare at Teddy.
"Well I'm trying!"
Teddy nearly shouted the last word, his anger finally showing, and his hair flared to a dark red.
Al's wide-eyed expression would have been comical had Teddy not been so irritated and distracted by his own surprise. Teddy fingered his hair absently and the vivid red muted to a more subtle shade.
He decided to change the subject.
"Heard from Rose or Hugo lately?"
Al glared at the table. "I sent them an owl yesterday," he said glumly. "They wish they were here, helping, but I told them not to worry, we weren't doing anything useful anyway. Well," he added as an afterthought, "I'm not. James and Dad might be faring a little better at the Ministry."
"Hermione wouldn't pull them out of school," Teddy said with the ghost of a smile. It was a weak attempt to cheer Albus up but it made him feel better to try. Al did not smile, but continued to stare at the wooden table between them as if it had personally wronged him somehow.
"Where do you think Lily is," he asked quietly.
Teddy thought for a moment, not sure how to answer without upsetting either of them further. He tried to recall any details he had gathered of the night Lily had disappeared to try and figure out where or when she could have gone. They had all been working so hard trying to figure out when she had disappeared to but maybe… maybe that was not what they should have been focusing on.
"I'm not sure we need to know where she is," Teddy said slowly. Al looked up at him, his features tight and perplexed. "Maybe we just need to find out where she was when she disappeared and –"
Albus finished the dangerous thought for him. "And stop it from ever happening in the first place."
"There are Death Eaters here, at Hogwarts?" Lily asked the question again, her voice quiet but clear. Although she knew it to be true she was having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea of Voldemort's supporters infiltrating the school. She knew, of course, about the Battle of Hogwarts, but that was not for at least another year. She stared at Harry, not sure what she wanted him to say, just knowing that she wished he would say something.
With a conflicted expression on his face Harry took a step towards the office door, stopped, turned to her, and said, "Yes. They're here."
Lily collapsed back onto the couch behind her and took a deep, steadying breath as she sank into the velvety cushions. She was very aware of the feel of the sofa beneath her hands, of the feel of her feet in her shoes, of the hair brushing against her cheek. Everything around her seemed stark and real and in sharp contrast to the seemingly unreal battle that could be raging somewhere below them, professors and dark wizards dueling in her beloved school.
But this is war, she thought and her skin crawled. It felt like something large and hairy had jumped down her throat and was trying to devour her from the inside out. Suddenly, her time travel situation did not seem so dire anymore. Someone might be dying floors below as she sat there in Albus Dumbledore's office. She felt like crying but her eyes were dry.
She looked up as Harry took another step towards the door, his wand gripped tightly in his fist. His eyes darted between her and the exit and Lily knew he was desperate to rush into the commotion that must be going on down below. But something was stopping him.
"How are you here," he whispered, his expression tortured. Again he turned to leave but stopped short and ran a shaky hand through his hair. Lily watched him, and felt that for the first time since she had arrived here he was really looking at her.
"You believe me?"
Harry grimaced, his posture stiff, his jaw clenched. He glanced at the door once and ran his hand through his hair again, rubbing absently at the back of his neck.
"No," he said. "I don't know. Maybe. Dumbledore believes you."
"Well, Dumbledore's right," Lily said reluctantly. "As much as I wish it wasn't true."
Despite all of the dangers that it posed Lily very much wanted Harry to believe her. She had been so lonely during her time in the past so far and to have another friendly face, her dad, in any form was now something she craved. Harry continued to stare at her as if he had never seen anything like her and Lily stared back with flushed cheeks and her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
When Harry did not speak, Lily did. She knew he would run out that door at any second but she did not wanting him to leave just yet. "I don't know how I got here," she said. Harry remained standing where he was but there was definitely something in his stance that suggested he was ready to bolt. "I just woke up here, in the Hospital Wing."
Harry frowned skeptically and asked, sarcasm heavy in his voice, "You don't remember traveling back in time?"
Lily lifted her chin a little and looked him straight in the eye. "No," she said stiffly, " I don't remember. Maybe if I did I wouldn't be stuck here."
"What, forever?"
Lily took a shaky breath. "I hope not," she whispered.
"That doesn't – you're not – " Harry let out a short, frustrated sigh. "I don't believe you. I can't. It's—"
He stopped abruptly and just stared at her, at her messy, Weasley hair, her brown eyes, the freckles smattered across her nose and cheeks. For a moment his certainly seemed to falter and he swallowed hard.
"Prove you are who you say you are. Tell me something – something only –only you and I would know."
His voice was a little strangled at the end of his sentence and Lily supposed it must have been strange for him to speak as though they knew each other, as though he had a daughter.
"I really can't tell you anything," she said reluctantly and he snorted. "Really. It could ruin everything. Terrible things happen to wizards who meddle with time!"
For some reason Harry's posture visibly stiffened when she said this but she brushed it off. Lily pulled her feet up onto the couch and wrapped her arms around her legs.
"How could it be worse than you being here at all," Harry asked brashly. "What more is there to lose?"
"Only everything I know," Lily answered hotly, his words surprisingly hurtful. She gripped her shins more tightly. "My family. My parents, my brothers, my friends – my whole life!"
Lily bit her lip to keep from saying anything more but it did not stop her from thinking that she may have already lost all of those things. Her stomach clenched painfully and she blinked back the prickling that had started to form behind her eyes. This was not going at all well. She did not want to fight with him, she just wanted him to believe her. Harry was watching her with wide eyes, his grip on his wand slackened, his arms hanging at his sides. "Brothers," he said breathlessly. "You have brothers?"
Lily swallowed and nodded, knowing that there was probably no point in denying anything at this point. She kept her mouth firmly shut to keep from spilling anything else about herself and Harry seemed to be at a loss for words.
"You – they – what are they – what are their names?"
Lily's heart ached at the sudden change in his tone. It was no longer curt and sarcastic, but purely disbelieving, as though he could not imagine anything so wonderful as having a family. He turned to face her fully and Lily wondered if he had forgotten entirely that there were Death Eaters in the castle.
"I shouldn't-" she started glumly but cut herself off at the expression on Harry's face. It was sad and conflicted and she could not look away. She wanted so desperately for him to believe her, for him to be on her side that she told herself it was too late to undo the damage that had already been done and what could it hurt now to tell him a little more.
"James is the oldest," she said, fully aware that she now had Harry's full attention. He sank sideways into the chair next to him, his eyes never leaving her face. Lily felt she was doing something terribly wrong but could not stop herself now. She was very keenly aware of all the portraits around them, feigning sleep. "And Al is two years older than me. Oh, and Teddy's practically family too."
Harry's expression was nearly heartbreaking and Lily began to feel cruel. She was dangling a future out in front of him, this sixteen-year-old boy with a dark wizard and dark future ahead of him – just enough to see but not enough to hold onto. Harry opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, and then looked away. Lily did not know what to do.
In the heavy silence a faint scream echoed up from somewhere below them in the castle and the two of them, in unison, looked down at the floor and then at each other. Lily knew her face must be white with renewed fear.
"I can't tell you any more," she whispered, knowing he was going to leave anyway.
"I know," Harry said. He stared at her face for a moment longer before standing abruptly. He took a slow, measured step backwards, turned, and, at the sound of another scream he hurried out of the office just like Dumbledore had moments before. Lily sat alone in the dark office, her eyes locked on the space Harry had occupied a moment before.
Suddenly, with a flash of courage, Lily stood from the sofa, her limbs awkward and uncooperative but her mind determined. She took a deep, steadying breath and rushed after Harry and into a danger that she had only ever heard about in stories – a danger that would soon be her reality but would feel like a nightmare.
The memory world around him seemed to stutter and James watched as his surroundings clouded over in swirls of black fog. He tried to hold onto the memory, to watch as Pansy dragged an unresisting Terry Boot away. He thought he could see the red light of a stunner before the fog enveloped him entirely. He closed his eyes and stood very still, waiting, thinking.
Pansy Parkinson had entered the Department of Mysteries, stolen a time turner, and obliviated an Unspeakable before, presumably, thoroughly stunning him and hiding him away to be found, dazed and confused, a few days later. And all this just before Lily had mysteriously disappeared leaving nothing behind but shattered glass and the shimmering sand that had once taken the form of a time turner.
When James opened his eyes he was no longer surrounded by darkness but was once again standing next to Terry Boot. Elaine, Walter, and Fletcher Smith were there as well. He lost his balance slightly at the disorienting change and at the same moment Terry jerked back into consciousness where he sat.
"Well," Elaine asked eagerly, looking between James and Terry. "Did it work?"
James fell subject to the hopeful gazes of Elaine and Walter but one look at Terry's face told him something had gone wrong. Terry looked neither happy to have his memory back nor angry that he had been attacked by Pansy Parkinson. In fact, he did not seem to realize anything had happened at all.
"Well, I saw everything," James began slowly in answer to Elaine's and Walter's stares. "Terry?"
Terry looked at the charms workers helplessly. "I'm supposed to remember now? I don't remember any more than I did before."
James watched the eager smile dissolve from Elaine's face. Her shoulders slumped and she gazed dejectedly at Terry, silently begging him to remember, to tell them that they had succeeded.
"But you saw how Terry lost his memory," Walter asked James. "How did it happen?"
James hesitated for a moment, looking around at them all as they stared at him, waiting for an answer. "You were right," he said, speaking directly to Terry. "There was someone else there with you. It was Pansy Parkinson. She obliviated you."
There was a short, shocked silence after James revealed this. Terry looked shocked and furious but it was Elaine who spoke. "Parkinson? That reporter woman from the Daily Prophet?"
"The very same," James said and rubbed tiredly at his eyes. He felt exhausted but at the same time alert and focused by a fury coursing through him as he pictured Pansy slipping the time turner into her pocket.
"Anything else," Fletcher asked, catching sight of James's dark expression and narrowing his eyes. "She was just there and obliviated Boot because she felt like it, is that it?"
James took a step back at his accusatory tone, but he did not hesitate in answering. "That's all I saw," he said, glaring at Fletcher.
The two of them had a silent standoff, staring each other down. James was relieved when Walter next spoke. "Well, I'm sorry we weren't able to get you your memories, Mr. Boot. But, progress is progress," he said cheerfully enough. "We will keep trying."
Terry did not appear overly thrilled as this prospect. He was not looking at any of them but anxiously smoothing down his dark hair. "What are you going to do about Parkinson," he asked quietly.
No one had an answer for that. James glanced around at his colleagues who shrugged and shook their heads. He turned back to Terry and found the other man watching him. "We'll... get back to you on that one," he said, aware how terrible it sounded. "We can't prove anything yet," he added.
"I suppose we should be going," Elaine said, still sounding disappointed. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Boot."
And with that Fletcher swept in front of them and began leading them out of the department. James looked back over his shoulder to see Terry still sitting in the same spot, rubbing at his temples and glancing suspiciously all around him.
Terry Boot may not remember what happened here, he thought, but I do.
And he intended to use what he had learned to help Lily as soon as possible.
When they finally arrived back at the Ministry atrium, their blindfolds removed for the second time, there were a few reporters there who flocked at the sight of them emerging from the Department of Mysteries. Not nearly so many as in the morning were present now, and Pansy Parkinson was definitely not among them, but they were still a definite annoyance, and one James certainly did not have time for.
Leaning forward James whispered some vague excuse in Elaine's ear and made his way quickly to the lifts a few yards away. James entered the nearest vacant lift, pounded the button for the Auror division a few times and tapped his foot impatiently.
The lift made a loud grinding noise as it started to move and James fidgeted nervously where he stood, his mind racing. When the doors finally opened again he was out into the corridor before the cool female voice could even announce his arrival. He made his way through the familiar maze of cubicles, waving out of habit as a few Aurors called out to him in greeting. Very quickly he reached his destination: the office bearing the title Harry Potter, Head Auror, Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He did not bother knocking.
At the sound of the door opening he saw his father, seated at his desk, look up in annoyance which turned to concern when he saw James enter.
"James, what…?" He half stood out of his seat as James rushed forward, his recent discovery tumbling from his lips.
"Dad, Pansy Parkinson stole a time turner from the Department of Mysteries."
Harry Potter's office was, by no means, a small space. It was large, comfortable, and had two windows that showed, on most days, a brilliant blue sky. At the moment however it felt as small and cramped as the cupboard under the stairs.
But for being filled with so many people the office was almost deathly quiet as its occupants remained still and processed the new information they had just received. Harry himself leaned against the front of his desk, his arms crossed against his chest and his head tilted forward. Ginny stood next to him, one hand resting on his arm and the other nervously pulling at her sleeve.
Ron and Hermione were to Harry's left, Hermione standing pin straight, her brow pinched in deep thought and Ron leaning on the bookcase behind them in a stance similar to Harry's. James sat in one of the spare chairs facing Harry's desk, Albus in the other, and Teddy stood by the door, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
"Well, we always knew Parkinson was no good," Ron said bitterly, breaking the silence. "Now we know she was stealing time turners."
"But if she got what she wanted, why is she still sniffing around the Ministry for information," James asked. Harry had been wondering the same thing.
"She's been sniffing around the Ministry," Ron asked, his eyebrows raised. "You mean since this happened?"
James grimaced and shifted his weight in his chair. "Believe me, she's been around all day, especially in our department. She's practically been interrogating us about our newest project – memory reversal – the one we're testing on Terry Boot."
"She didn't want you to identify her," Harry said quietly. "She didn't want you to retrieve his memories and find out what she did."
"Well if she's trying to cover her tracks she's doing a poor job," Ginny said, looking morbidly pleased, "calling all this attention to herself."
"But you saw Terry Boot's memories. You said you saw her," Al burst in loudly. He turned to Harry, gesturing to the door. "We know she did it, why don't you bring her in, Dad?"
Harry opened his mouth to respond that he most certainly intended to but Hermione was shaking her head. "James, you said Terry still didn't remember anything incriminating, is that right?" James nodded and Hermione continued. "Then all we have is your word, and while we all believe you, that will never be enough to convict anyone. And now that you've told Terry what you saw, she could claim that you planted that story there. Even if he ever does remember on his own, Parkinson could easily make the claim that you made it all up."
"I can still bring her in for questioning," Harry said stubbornly, "And get something out of her." He lifted one hand to rub at his jaw. There was stubble there, a few days old now, making him appear even more unkempt than usual.
"Even if we get her to admit to stealing the time turner, how do we get her to admit to Lily's disappearance as well," Ginny put in, her grip on Harry's arm tightening ever so slightly when she said Lily's name.
No one had an answer for this, but Harry did have a few possibilities floating around half-formed in his mind. He was so relieved to have any information to go on that any obstacles in their path to getting Lily back seemed smaller than they had before. This information had to be useful, important, this was somehow the key they had been looking for, he just knew it.
Teddy stepped away from the wall by the door and towards the center of the room. He brushed his hair – a dull red – out of his face and looked around at them all before speaking.
"If we can get Pansy to confess to being at Hogwarts with the time turner the night that Lily disappeared then we might just be able to solve everything."
Harry did not like the dangerous gleam that had appeared in Teddy's eyes – he had seen it too many times before in those of the people he arrested. Ginny's grip on his arm squeezed again and he knew that she had seen it too. He straightened slightly where he stood.
"Teddy-" he started, but the look on his godson's face made him stop. Teddy was not going to be deterred until he at least had the chance to speak his mind. He took another step forward, his full height daunting despite his thin frame. For some reason, he glanced at Albus before he spoke again.
"If we know when and where it happened, we can go back and change it," he said. Teddy looked Harry directly in the eyes and Harry stared right back, his expression blank. "Lily will never have been gone."
Hermione gasped and moved toward Teddy looking scandalized. "Terrible things happen to wizards who meddle with time, Teddy!" She glanced at Harry, almost apologetically before turning back to Teddy. "You don't know—"
"Terrible things have already happened," Teddy cut her off loudly. Harry watched the other occupants of the office flinch as his harsh tone. "Lily's gone and, let's face it, we haven't come up with any other options! It's this or nothing at all!"
Harry swallowed hard, considering, and looked around the room. Albus was the only one who did not seem surprised by Teddy's suggestion and he suspected they had been talking about it before. Ron looked hesitant and kept glancing between Teddy and his wife. Hermione nearly had tears in her eyes.
"You can't just go back and change whatever you want," she insisted. She turned to Harry and now tears did fall from her eyes. "I want Lily back too," she insisted earnestly, "and I am doing everything I can to figure out how to do that but if wizards just went back and changed whatever they pleased it could jeopardize our very existence!"
Harry felt torn in two. He and Hermione had both experienced time travel. They probably understood it better than anyone else in the room and he knew that she was right. Everyone in the room was now staring at him and he took a long shaky breath to try and clear his head. Going back to save Lily could put the rest of his family in danger. But he could think of no alternative and letting his daughter go would destroy him. He turned to Ginny and found her staring back at him with a blazing look in her eyes and he knew he had no choice.
Teddy was right. It was this or nothing at all.