A mobile phone rang, turning many heads as a strange song emitted from one woman's pocket.
*Weeeellll the duck walked up to the lemonade stand, and he said to the man running the stand –*
Sadie flipped open the mobile phone and pressed it to her ear.
"Sadie here."
"SADIE!" all eyes turned to her, and she raised a brow, the only indication that she was embarrassed being a faint blush that rose from the neckline of her tee shirt.
"No need to shout. What's up?" she popped the 'p' coolly, looking for all the world as though she hadn't just been subject to intense scrutiny.
"Status update. You've gone quiet on us, Sadie!" the person on the other line sounded reproving.
"Right, sorry. Well, I have 3 Hs, two definite As, at least 7 Ns, and an undecided." Sadie reeled off, staring around the room.
"Really?"
"Yeah. And… LE, and GG." she winced waiting for the explosion.
"WHAT? You found Lily's Eyes? With Greasy Git? What the hell are they doing?" Remus was eyeing Sadie carefully, inconspicuously listening to every word she said. She lowered her voice just slightly.
"Ordering… chicken, I think. So, what's going on at home?"
"Lily's furious! AJ was going to bed, and the Dementors came!" Lenora's eyes widened as Sadie suddenly went very pale, clenching her fist around her knife. Her dark eyes glittered dangerously.
"What did you just say?" she hissed, voice soft, deadly.
"Dementors. Down the shortcut between Wisteria Walk and Magnolia Crescent." The voice on the other line sounded as though they were waiting with bated breath for the explosion.
"Did you just say… DEMENTORS?" Sadie shrieked. Everyone glanced over at her in shock and fear, eying her hand on the knife, and Lenora simply shook her head.
"Whoa, calm yourself! Junie, AJ, Lily and I are fine, Sadie. You worry too much! Anyway, where are you currently?"
"I already told you, ordering chicken! Now, I am going to go and get my god daughter now, and she is going to meet her other sister or so help me Merlin I am going to be enjoying some venison tomorrow!"
"You found her? Brilliant!" the man speaking ignored the clear threat, though his voice shook almost imperceptibly at her words.
"Yes, and I'm coming for AJ now, so if you know what's good for you, you will let me take her." There was a sadistic smile on her face as she spoke, quietly but deliberately, soaking her words with a warning.
"I don't know, Sadie, Twinkles may harm her! Also, she looks too much like her mother; the Greasy Git may have a fit! Not that I'd mind if he did," Remus was piecing together what he heard, and he frowned deeply. That was impossible…
Sadie smirked. "That's what I'm hoping for…" she purred, before hanging up on the laughing man at the other end of the line.
"Who was that?" Bill asked.
"Oh, just Jimmy, checking in on me. I'm going out for a bit, m'kay? Lenny, will you be OK with handling the masses for about ten minutes while I nip out?"
Lenora smiled. "It's almost as if you don't trust me, Sadie!"
Sadie winked at her, swept over to give a blushing Bill a kiss on the cheek, and yelled out; "Delacour says Hi, Beeeell!" before Disapparating. Bill groaned.
8*88*88****888*88*88*88*88888******88888*88*88*88* 888****88*88*8
There was a light drizzle of rain in suburban Surrey.
The park was empty, the only movement being the ominously swaying swing set, and the gently revolving roundabout. A figure stood in the corner, observing the park with keen eyes.
They wore dark clothing, and even more disturbing was the dark umbrella. That spelled 'psychopath', regardless of the intentions of the figure in
question. Literally. They wore a leather jacket with brightly coloured fluorescent letters proclaiming 'PSYCHOPATH' across the shoulders on the back.
Suddenly the deceptive quiet of the park was shattered by two loud CRACKS in quick succession. The before still figure leapt into action, squealing in a very non psychopathic way.
"NEVILLE! LUNA! How are you?"
"We're good, Isadora, but honestly, the bumbling act is so hard! I hate that nobody knows that I enjoy potions! I hate that I can't even show the Greasy Git what I can do, because it would blow everything! By the way, I love your jacket. Very subtle." Neville burst out, straight to the point.
"It does get tiresome. I wait and wait for somebody to work out my metaphors, yet my own bloody house isn't intelligent enough to understand it!" Luna added, looking agitated. Sadie shifted on the spot.
"First of all, hello to you too, guys, yes I'm fine, and yes I did get over that cold. Lily finally managed to remember the recipe for Pepper Up potion. Second of all, thanks, Neville, I had it made specially. Third of all… I'm sorry guys. I never realised that Neville would be teased, or that Luna would be shunned. You should forget about your mission. Just go back to your lives." she looked down sadly, glancing up through her lashes occasionally.
"Oh Sadie, you are thick!" Luna exclaimed at once. "Our lives are our mission! Daddy's trained me for this since Mummy died! Neville's trained for this since his parents were admitted to Mungos! That's 14 years, Sadie; do you think anyone would give up after all that? We are in this together, Sadie, and you better not forget it! You may be 35 in mind, but you understand us teens perfectly."
"I was prepared to be teased; Luna knew she would be shunned, but we did this because we owe this to the light! And we love you like a sister, silly!" he looked around. "Now where's AJ?" he demanded. "You said you were collecting her! Let me meet her, Sadie!"
"AJ's at home. Wanna come see her parents?" Sadie asked, hiding her smugness at the successful guilt trip. They fell for it every time! Neville and Luna glanced at each other, looking vaguely uncomfortable with Sadie's manic grin.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" Neville asked.
"…I infiltrated the Order!" Sadie finally burst out. Neville and Luna looked at each other, and laughed lightly, congratulating their friend.
"Good for you, Sadie!"
"That'll show 'em!"
"Was Ron there?" Neville asked, smile fading slowly.
"Yeah." Sadie scowled. "Nasty little rat-loving muggle-hating swine."
"I bloody hate that git." growled Neville. "He's the reason I never got to be friends with my god-brother! Practically chased us away first night of first year, saying that Harry didn't want to be friends with nobodies like us!"
"Ron is a git." Luna said simply. "He is a jealous git, and one day Harry will recover from the loyalty charms and potions that he's being drugged with. That is when we'll strike." there was silence as they fumed.
"I found my sister too." Sadie said randomly. The two teens' heads snapped up.
"You found Marlene? Great!" Neville said.
"What will you be focusing on now?" Luna asked.
"Well," Sadie began with a grin, "It's more what I will be perfecting…"
"Just tell us, will you?" Neville shouted excitedly.
"Neville, I found a way to give you back your parents."
Silence.
"…What?"
"Well, I have studied your memories of visits, and compared them with other cases, and your parents have not been insane all these years. There is a tricky little piece of magic that causes somebody to lose the ability to respond to anything in any way that is recognisable to humankind. That is what they were hit by. The counter charm was lost to time."
"So how does that help us?" Luna asked, thinking hard.
"Luckily, it was not forgotten by the house-elves."
"How'd you get it out of them?" Neville asked eagerly. Sadie allowed herself a smug grin.
"I bought one, of course!"
Luna rolled her eyes. "Of course you did."
They had reached the door of Sadie's house. Sadie raised a hand, but instead of knocking, barged straight through the door.
"HONEY, I'M HOME!" she yelled, strolling into the kitchen.
"Well, well, well. Who is this stranger then?" asked a young voice. Neville and Luna span around to see an auburn haired girl around Luna's age eying them with considerable amusement, even as she wiped floury hands on her apron.
"JJ!" Sadie yelled, going to hug the teen, but thinking better of it as she eyed the messy apron warily.
"Doth mine eyes deceive me? Is this really mine own Isadora, cometh home to me? Is it thou, Sadie? Is it truly thine own face?" she asked dramatically, holding her hands to her cheeks. When she removed them, she had two floury handprints on her cheeks.
Sadie burst out laughing. JJ looked confused.
Neville took pity on her, leaning forwards and wiping the flour off her face, showing her his powdery finger. She blushed profusely.
"Thanks," she muttered. Luna pressed the pads of her fingers on one hand against the ones on the other. The gesture was clear to anyone who had taken the oath of Candour (Sadie's choice of name and completely mental in Neville's opinion. What did it even mean?), and knew the basic signals that Sadie forced them to learn ("You never know when you may need it!" was her defence). We will be having words later.
Neville gulped.
"I'm JJ Potter, nice to meet you." JJ stuck out a hand in greeting. Luna shook it.
"I'm Luna Lovegood. Pleasure."
"Neville Longbottom. Likewise." Neville said.
"Where are your parents, Junie-Jen?" Sadie asked in a singsong voice. JJ sighed in a way that convinced Neville and Luna that she was well used to their friend's crazy antics.
"Sitting room with Alice. And must you be so irritating all of the time?" Sadie smiled infuriatingly in response, skipping from the room. JJ ran into the kitchen, then returned with a plate of fresh scones, minutes later.
"You bake?" Luna asked. JJ nodded, almost tripping on the doorjamb and saving the scones just in time.
"I'm home schooled, and it's quite hard to occupy myself, so I bake things. A lot." she shrugged.
"Sadie called you Junie-Jen. Why?" Neville asked quietly. JJ sighed again.
"My name is Juniper Jennifer Potter, JJ or Junie for short. Sadie used to call me Junie Jen when I was upset. My sister's name is Alice, after your mother, Neville. Sadie was best friends with her, and she's furious that Mum and Dad named Alice after her. Said she wanted to do it herself."
Neville cleared his throat. "What'll she do now?"
"She'll name her child after your father." Junie smiled at him, before turning and yelling to nobody in particular. "WHO WANTS SCONES?"
"WE DO!" came Sadie and a man's voice in unison. Junie grinned, leading the two teens through the door on their left, tripping once more on the doorjamb and inciting a strangled yell of protest from the man in the room.
It was a colourful little room, all reds and golds and creams. Several squashy and comfortable looking armchairs were dotted around the room, with a large corner sofa on which a man and woman in their 30s both rested.
The woman, with flaming red hair and emerald eyes, had her feet curled up underneath her, and nursed a steaming hot chocolate. She had aged elegantly, and was currently laughing at something Sadie had said.
The man beside her had messy black hair and eyes that were a warm hazel in colour. He had laugh lines, and was trying as hard as he could not to gaze adoringly at his wife.
A little girl rested comfortably against the chintz armchair which Sadie was residing in. she looked like a replica of her mother, and she was playing contentedly with some building blocks which were spread messily out in front of her. She looked about 3 or 4 years of age.
Neville glanced over at Junie. She had her mother's fiery hair, but her father's warm hazel eyes, and was currently balancing precariously on one foot as she placed her load on the coffee table. Two of the four eyes in the room went immediately to the scones, as the two older women chatted animatedly, and James Potter's and Alice Potter's hands shot out to snatch up a scone each. Lily Evans Potter rolled her eyes and brought out a pile of notes as Sadie gestured wildly, almost knocking over a vase full of lilies. Lily winced, and drew her attention to the notes, bringing out a mechanical pencil and occasionally making a note of something in the margin.
Luna was staring at Sadie as she laughed. She was as happy as Luna had ever seen her; this was where Sadie belonged.
Alice tugged on Sadie's sleeve and pointed to the scones frantically. Sadie patted the little girl on the head and took one, grinning slightly as the little girl bounced.
"So Lily, I thought that the curse would allow me to say some things, and you; for example, I was talking to James at Grimmauld and Remus could hear what I James was saying. He is at the very least suspicious, and I believe if he figures us out the curse will be lifted – for him at least!" she clapped for emphasis, making a show of jazz hands to showcase her theory.
"Hm. That may be the case, and if so, we shall have to see if he contracts the curse like Marlene – sorry, Lenora, didn't you name her? – did."
"I think Marley contracted the curse through our twin bond, or maybe Dumbledore was just extremely thorough. Whatever the case, I don't think the tongue tying will be cast on Remus unless Twinkles finds out." Sadie insisted.
"Oi, Sadie, what's this I hear about a Weasley you are getting rather close to?" James asked, eyes narrowing.
"You know Fred and George are our allies, James, don't be silly!" Sadie giggled, flapping her hands as if waving away his comment.
"I was talking about the undecided. Bill Weasley, isn't it?" Sadie flushed.
"None of your business," she muttered, getting quieter and more sullen by the second. James, on the other hand, looked deeply amused, and told her so.
"This is hilarious! Almost half the family is marked as Hostile, and you've fallen for the Undecided!" Sadie flushed harder.
"Shut up, James! I haven't fallen for him; he is just a very good friend! And I have been working very hard on working out his loyalties, thank you very much!" she somehow managed to harrumph delicately. "So. There."
There was a short silence. Finally Lily spoke up.
"So how did you find Marlene?" Sadie grinned at this, leaning forwards in her seat.
"Old Dumbles is getting lazy; he tied Marley's location to Harry; when Harry met me, the memory charm lifted, and so did the one of Marley's location. Plus, I think Marlene knows where Gideon and Fabian Prewett are. Oh, I can't wait to see Molly Weasley's face when they turn up – under aliases, of course." She bounced slightly in anticipation. "I can't wait." She enthused.
James laughed. "Yeah, imagine the surprise on Molly's face when her 'dratted no good trouble making' brothers turn up on her doorstep!"
"Fred and George will love them, I'm sure," Lily said happily.
"Oh dear," Neville groaned. "God help the Gryffindor house."
Luna giggled, patting Neville consolingly on the head. He scowled up at her, muttering about patronisation. Junie gazed at the two longingly, hoping that she too could be that close to Neville – wait what?