Author's Note: Lily here. Call me Lils. This author, JK Rowling? She owns us. Not Already There. Already There just owns a computer and a pack of Dr. Pepper. Enjoy.
The next day I hoped to make a list of all the kid werewolves who were male and about the right age. A lot of the kids found I knew the ministry couldn't find their parents; unfortunately, many parents wanted nothing to do with their now bitten children and did not respond to the pictures they sent out. Harry said that was one of his very first jobs as an Auror, mere weeks after The Battle of Hogwarts. Normally, he said catching the rest of the Death Eaters felt oddly gratifying; when he raided Greyback's compound, he just felt sick.
Unfortunately, the general incompetence of Ministry bureaucracy kept me from achieving that goal. My carefully filed in forms requesting that information became lost. Instead, I did some work not related to the case, refilled the forms as well as turned in one asking for permission to see Fenrir Greyback in his cell (worth a shot), and argued with the record's room secretary. By eleven AM, I was done with that, so I took a quick early lunch. When I got back to my cubicle, Todd Thompson rushed in.
"Lupin!" He said, waving around one of my forms. "Can you believe it? They accepted your form to visit a child torturer before letting you get a list of orphans. Really? Anyway, Potter said you need to be careful. Something about Greyback ruining your family's life and him not wanting you to try and kill him."
He grabs Carter from his office and the two of us go to the northern shore of Scotland. The little town of Asker, from which we depart for the prison, is covered in a bit of an odd, cold mist. Dementors. I shudder. Although there were some campaigns to get rid of them following The War, they fell through. To many people feel more safe with them than without.
We make our way through the grey little town until we get to a small boat by the docks. A decrepit middle aged witch smokes on a pipe filled with what may or may not be tobacco.
"Azkaban?" She asks. We flash our badges and she lets in the boat, tapping the side with her wand to send us flying towards a depressingly tall tower atop a far off island.
"Who ya visiting?" she asks, throwing her pipe at her side.
"Greyback," I tell her. She shudders.
"That creep gives me 'da chills," She tells us, pulling a flask from her pocket. "Here we are,"
The witch lets us onto the island before quickly taking off. The two of us walk along the rocks to arrive at the large front door of Askaban prision. We enter to be met by a large dementor.
"Ministry of Magic," I tell the dementor, flashing him my badge. "We're here to see Fenrir Greyback."
The dementor nods and lets us inside. We start to make our way down the hall.
I cast a patronous, which for me takes the form of a large chameleon. Get it? I change my looks to fit a situation, so does the nobel and graceful chameleon…Okay, my patronous is lame, alright? But it keeps Carter and I from the dementor's mouths and gives enough light to see the name plates.
"Greyback's here," Carter says, pointing to a small plaque on the bars. The two of us use the key we were given back at the office and let ourselves in.
Greyback is sitting in the back of the cell in what I am sure is a pool of his own piss. He looks to be about a eighty five or so. His leathery skin hangs limply off his skin, red and bumpy from decades of sratches and bites. His torn robes barely even cover his body. The patronous's glow rejuvenates slightly upon seeing us. He even smiles, giving us a flash of yellow, rotted teeth.
"Fenrir Greyback," I tell him. "My name is Ted Lupin. This is my partner, Douglas Carter. We have some questions for you about Marta Keel and her son Caleb."
"Keel, Keel," He mumbles, shaking his hands together. "Yes, yes I bit little Caleb Keel once. No, twice. Delicious. Almost finished off his sweet flesh too, but that boy was obedient. Mother left with him, but we took him away. Gave her the bones of some other kid to punish her. What else could we do? Runt already got to her,"
"That 'some other kid' was named Carlisle Lytton!" I yell to him. He reaches up and grabs my hand.
"Lupin, did you say?" He strokes the inside of my palm. "Long time since I tasted Lupin skin. Soft. Sweet. Juicy."
"Alright there," I say pulling it back. "Do you know anything else about Caleb."
"Delicious."
Ugh. I have never seen someone so disturbing in my life. "Goodbye, Fenrir Greyback," I tell him as we leave.
Carter and I leave the prison and we go into Asker to find a cafe. I order an apple cake while Carter gets a chocolate muffin.
"Um, do you want to, like, talk about it?" Carter asks me.
"Not really," I say. Carter looks relived.
"Good. I don't want to say feelings are just for chicks, I mean dying puppies make me cry and all, but-"
"I get it."
Carter and I finish our pastries, but the two of return home instead of the office. Azkaban made us both feel a bit sick and we can get away with skipping a little work.
Upon arriving home, after stopping at the the store to buy cream, I start making the soup. It's not that hard. By the time Vic got home I only had to continue cooking it.
"Look who I found at work!" She says as she walks in, leading James Potter, donned in white Unspeakable robes, with her.
"I applied for a spot in the Unspeakables department." James says. "I didn't tell anyone in case I didn't get it, but I did! I just started today."
"Imagine my surprise when they said they got me my first protege and this bozo came out," She says, ruffling James's hair.
"We were just heading over to your parents' house," I say. "You can help us carry this soup."
"I'm going to change," Victoire says, walking to the bedroom to change out of her Unspeakable robes into something more stylish.
"That's great you got a job, James," I tell him. "I know the unemployment thing has been grating on you."
"Thanks, Teddy," He says, rubbing his wrist awkwardly. "It's a cool job, you know? I mean, I can't speak about it obviously, but my dad used to tell me all about the Department of Mysteries when I was a kid, and it's cool that I know what all this stuff does now."
Victorie finishes getting dressed, so her, James and I bring the soup over to the Potter's house. To my surprise, Ginny is sitting at the table in their large, bright kitchen with Russell Baker.
"Ted! Vic!" He exclaims, ruffling his auburn hair. "I can explain!"
"He's here for an interview," Ginny says with an eye roll. "I asked him where he wanted to do it, and he said my house for some reason."
"I always wanted to see where Harry Potter lived," He tells us offhandedly.
"What are you talking to this loser for, Aunt Ginny?" Victoire asks. "I thought you did sports stories."
"I'm apparently revolutionizing the world of broommaking," Russell says with a shurg. "Now, if you all excuse me, I have revolutionizing to do," Russell announces with a florish of his hands and a quick bow before exiting the house.
"Ugh," Ginny complains. "If England would have just gotten it's act together and not been eliminated in the first round, I wouldn't be doing these stupid fluff human interest pieces. This humiliation never would have happened when I was on the team," she mumbles.
"You know it's bad when you just keep hoping our seeker's going to catch the snitch so we'll only be 500 points behind at the end," I agree.
"And we had to sit through that agony for almost two days!" Al exclaims as he enters the house, wearing his select team's robes and covered in mud "At least the Harpies are doing pretty good now".
"Albus Severus Potter, what the hell did you do?" Ginny exclaims. "Forget to use your broom? Decide that you'd take up that muggle sport, Rug-knees?"
"Rugby," James corrects. "Rug-Knee is when you play tag in the sitting room and your sister slides under the coffee table."
"Long story. Hey Teddy. How you doing?" Al deverts.
"Amazing. We brought tomato bisque. It's good," I tell him. "Where are Harry and Lily?"
"Lily's trapped in her tower prison while Harry's out partying with dem hoes," Al mutters under his breath. James tries stiffle a laugh. I think I'm missing an inside joke, and it's probably hilarious. I'm just happy to see James genuinely smiling.
"I think Lily's in her room," Ginny says, gesturing up the stairs as I place the pot of soup on the kitchen counter. "Someone should go get her."
"Teddy," Al says, pulling me aside. "Go in there looking like her boyfriend," he says gleefully.
"Lils has a boyfriend?!" I exclaim.
"Lower your voice, mum and dad don't know and I'm dead if I'm the reason they find out," Al whispers.
We call Lily down as Ginny puts out the rest of the food. It's a light dinner, just a loaf of beer bread Lily made earlier that day, some arugula salad, and the soup, but it all looks excellent. Harry pulls out a very nice bottle of chardonnay and serves it along side the meal.
Dinner is filled with good natured laughing and conversation. James insets Harry tries at least two sips of soup before he revels who sent us the recipe. Ginny says we should feed it to her brother Ron and see his reaction when he tries 'Malfoy Soup'. Al tells us about his quiditch practice and Vic assures him that he would make a better chaser than anyone on England's team right now. I have not honestly seen James this upbeat in months. He spends the entire dinner cracking jokes and complementing Lily on her beer bread.
"You two ready for the big day this weekend?" Ginny asks us.
"Yep. Dominique and I went to Evie's house to try on the dress this weekend. She's really proud of it, says it's her best work yet."
"It's so cool you're friends with a fashion designer," Lily says enviously.
"Custom made dress robes. What's not to love?" Vic asks.
"Better finish that case before the big day," Harry tells me. "How was Azkaban today?"
"You went to Azkaban!?" Al exclaims.
"He had to interrogate Fenrir Greyback," Harry explains.
"He had to interrogate Fenrir Greyback!?"
"Let's not talk about Greyback at the table," Ginny says. "How about we talk about what flavor of ice cream everyone wants instead?"
After enjoying bowls of bright green mint chocolate chip ice cream, James, Al, Lily, Victoire and I go outside to hang out on the porch to watch the sunset. James lights a flame in the fire pit.
"Hey Lils?" I ask.
"Yep."
"How serious are you and your boyfriend?"
He cheeks turn as red as the tomato bisque. "I mean…"
I laugh and hand her an invitation to my wedding. "Don't be afraid to bring him. I'll have the planner add an extra seat. Do you still have that ugly jumper Remus gave you?"
"It's upstairs," She answers. "Are you cold?"
"No. My mother told me to burn it."
The two of us glance into the fire and share a mischievous smile.
"Accio ugly jumper!" I yell, pointing my wand to Lily's window. The jumper flies out and into my hand.
"You want to do the honor?"
"Love to."
I quickly cut out a small section with my wand and throw it in my bag before throwing Lily the jumper. She tosses it in the fire, showering sparks across the porch.
"Burn baby, burn." Lily says gleefully, the two of us staring at the fire as it slowly consumes the ugly green fabric.
The first thing I notice upon arriving at the office in the morning is that my forms to get the names of the orphaned werewolves had not been dealt with yet. Damn. How long does it take to approve a list?
The second thing I notice is a brown owl standing in my inbox, holding a letter.
"Hey dude," I say, stroking the little thing's head. It's feathers are just as soft as Ginny's old owl, Persephone. When she had died, it was the first time since I was a baby that I was confronted with death.
Speaking of Ginny, I pull open the Prophet's Sport section to see that her article had already been printed. That was fast. I guess the many flattering pictures of Russell Baker were taken or procured at an earlier time. Throwing the article aside to read later, I grab the envelope out of the owl's mouth and send him on his way.
Inside are two moving pictures and a short note. The first one is of a young child with wide eyes and deep auburn hair. I flip it over to see that someone wrote "Caleb Keel" on the back. This should be useful. The second one is of Marta, Caleb and, a bit surprisingly, Healer Ray. Marta and Healer Ray are just barely grinning, but Caleb has one of the widest smiles I have ever seen. I flip it over to see that the same handwriting had written "Tonks took this one."
The note enclosed with the photographs reads "I thought these would be of use. Be careful. Originals. Need to look good in my silk photo album. H. Ray." I place the note on my desk with and eye roll and spin around in my desk chair, trying to think of what to do next. Until I get that list, I have no idea who could be Caleb Keel, and since the Ministry has the information 'right here', then no one would approve an excursion to go out and find that information myself.
I grab the picture of the little boy and spin around in my chair again. There's something so familiar about him.
I pull my self back to the desk, glancing down at where my hand landing, right by the picture of Russell in the paper. No. It can't be.
I rip the two pictures of Russell out of the paper and pin them up next to the one of Caleb. No fucking way.
"Carter!" I yell, running into the hallway.
"He's in a meeting," Harry says, grabbing my shoulder and slowing me down. "What do you need?"
"Where is the Nimbus racing broom company?" I ask him desperately.
"Up north. I've been there. Do you need to go there?"
"Yeah, super important," I tell him. Harry grabs my arm and BAM! We're standing inside a broom factory.
A young artisan sits at a nearby table, examining twigs.
"Ma'm," I say "Do you know where Russell is?" I ask, flashing her my badge.
"Second office on the right," She says in shock. Harry and I run down the surgically clean hall to the office and I throw the door open.
"Hey!" Russell exclaims as we rush inside his large office. I barely have time to notice the beautiful view of a crystal lake and an ever stretching forest of good broom trees.
"Ted Lupin, Auror. This is my boss, Harry Potter. We need to ask you a few questions regarding a missing person case,"
"Teddy, dude, you know me! I'd never kidnap anyone! Did Chase go missing? Because you know just because I'm crazy for that chick, I'm not going to lock her up in a basement dungeon with fluffy pink handcuffs and a crew of serenading house elves!"
I try to ignore how specific that was. "You misunderstood me. The missing person in question is you."