AN: First off I am so, so sorry for how long this update has taken! There are several reasons for it, firstly I have rewritten this chapter more than a few times as it never felt right. It took three very different forms, each of which were drafted several times until I settled on this one. If anyone wants to know what the others may have looked like then feel free to message me. Secondly, after the last update I wrote another short story called Being Brave which is a Skulduggery Pleasant fanfic and has been posted on my page if any of you would be interested. Thirdly, I then started my third and final year at uni so the work load has been insane and I have had no free time for writing. Finally, I kind of lost where I wanted this to go this story, which is why there were so many rewrites.
Also a quick response to a few reviews, I haven't been able to message everyone I tried to keep on top of it and kind of failed. Thanks for all of the reviews though, they were greatly appreciated. I'm so happy that so many of you like and continued to like this story. Some people thought that there was a bit too much angst in the last two chapters, this might be because originally they were intended to be one super chapter but I cut it down to two as it felt more natural. A few of you mentioned the engagement, that is brought up here, I don't want to say much more. Also, sorry for such a horrible cliff-hanger, it was never meant to last this long and I will do my best to make sure that there isn't such a huge wait next time. I've already got planned what's happening next so hopefully it shouldn't take anywhere near as long.
Anyway, thank you again for being so patient and I really hope you like where I've taken this.
Chapter Twenty: In the Blink of an Eye
Harry blinked. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been that. Maybe a rush of colour, the sun rushing around the Earth, even the time ticking off a clock would've been something. One second he was staring out into a busy room and the next nobody was where they were supposed to be. He had been expecting the odd man: Miller to be standing in front of him, the assistant Civet to be loitering behind him and maybe Daphne to be in the corner. Instead everything was different. The room next door was empty and before him stood Miller, his outfit completely different from the one that he had been wearing before and a nervous looking Civet whose eyes began to widen and his mouth hang open as his gaze fell on Harry.
It didn't take Harry's years as an aruro to realise that something wrong. Very wrong. What the hell had happened? But even as his mind began searching for an answer he could feel the dull dread of realisation settling in his stomach. No. It must be something else. It had to be. Didn't it?
"What happened?" He asked, desperately searching for another answer than the one that was so glaringly obvious. Different clothes, different people and an absentee audience could only add up to one thing. He'd been gone for more than a second, much more. But how long? Days? Weeks? Months? Harry tried to force himself to calm down, taking a deep breath and waiting expectantly as nothing but silence greeted his words.
"There… there was a complication," Civet answered when Miller said nothing as he was too preoccupied with silently studying Harry. His eyes flicked up and down, taking in every detail. He hummed to himself, giving a tiny nod before reaching for his wand. Harry felt himself instinctively reach for his own. A lifetime of having curses thrown at him had taught him to beware drawn wands, even in seemingly benevolent hands.
"What kind of complication?" He asked, keeping a wary eye on the odd unspeakable. "And what's he going to do with that?"
Miller didn't even bother replying, so Civet answered hurriedly, "He's just conducting a standard medical test," Civet's voice was nervous and higher pitched than Harry remembered it being before. In fact, he was almost certain that he could the man sweating. "It's perfectly safe. There's no need to -"
"You said something about a complication?" Harry pressed, cutting across the floundering unspeakable. It wasn't hard to imagine that Civet never left his lab, in fact, Harry doubted that he'd dealt with a real human being outside of the people he was used to for years. A fact which was doing nothing to help Harry's rapidly shortening temper.
"Ah," Civet swallowed, a nervous laugh escaping his lips. Miller tutted, rolling his eyes but keeping his words to himself. "Well, as you know you were meant to travel forwards for a… erm, minute."
"Meant?"
"It was a little longer," Civet weaselled, his sallow skin was burning red as Harry's gaze intensified. He was practically wilting.
"How long?" Harry demanded through gritted teeth. His heart was pounding as endless possibilities raced through his mind, far too many of them centring round the tears of the godson he'd sworn that he'd never abandon. A sickening feeling settled in Harry's stomach as the seconds dragged by. Civet's mouth opened once or twice, but nothing but silence greeted Harry's question.
"Erm…"
"How." Harry said, his voice shaking a little as he fought desperately to keep his anger in check. "Long?"
"Three weeks," Civet muttered eventually. Somewhere something exploded. Civet shrieked, his arms going to his head in an effort to defend himself. Even the unflappable Miller took a wary step back, his wand still in his hand and his eyes darting between Harry and the now destroyed time-turner pieces which had been stacked neatly on the desk to Harry's left. But Harry hadn't really noticed. All that he could see was the time that for him had gone in the blink of an eye. Three whole weeks. Yes, it didn't sound that long, but so much could change in that time. Had they even known when he'd be coming back? Or had those three weeks been thought of as the beginning of a waiting game which may never end?
"What happened?" Harry heard himself ask as he ran a hand through his hair.
"There an unexpected outside factor which we had not taken into consideration," Miller replied, filling in for the now useless Civet who was staring at the debris left by Harry's finally snapped temper. It wasn't usual for trained wizard's to lose control like that, but it could happen. "Specifically, your previous time-turner use."
"What does that have anything to do with it? It's a bloody time-turner, so what if I used one before?"
"It wasn't on your records and as such we did not calibrate our new model to account for any residual temporal energy. To put it simply, three turns then made for three weeks now. Had we known then we may well have been able to adapt, in fact I am certain that we would have and yet," both of his hands moved, gesturing widely to the lab, "here we are."
Harry was silent for a moment, his brain reeling as he slowly processed the implications of Miller's explanation. "So just because you didn't think to ask me a simple question I lost three weeks of my life?"
"We conducted the necessary background checks, your records indicated that you had never had possession of a time-turner, so we proceeded as planned. In our positions you would have done exactly the same. Time-turners are famously difficult to obtain and given the nature of your foray into the past it was exceptionally unlikely that we would have presumed you had used one. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Sirius Black escaped himself. Do not misunderstand me, I am not blaming you for hiding it, given the many regulations that you and Miss Granger flouted it is understandable that you told no-one."
"We didn't hide it," Harry snapped, "it's just nobody's business, that's all." He was sick of people poking their noses in, for once could they not just stay out of his private life?
"Evidently it was ours," Miller pointed out. "The time-turner wasn't the issue, had you simply been more forthcoming then we may have avoided this entire issue."
"Do you actually hear yourself when you talk?" Harry heard a voice ask from the doorway. He wheeled around, the flare of anger which had made his fists curl and almost sent him lunging for the irritating unspeakable dying like a flame in a hurricane, standing in the door an eyebrow raised and scorn on her lips was none other Daphne Greengrass. Behind stood her boss, Luidhard. His face was a mixture of relief and concern.
"Greengrass? Your suspension has been lifted I see," Miller said, having enough sense to move away from Harry.
"You always were observant," Daphne noted sarcastically, her eyes were fixed on him, as if she couldn't quite bring herself to look in Harry's direction.
"Do you have everything that you need?" Luidhard asked, steering the conversation back the realm of relevance and away from squabbling.
"For the moment," Miller nodded.
"Then if you would be so kind as to discuss it with me back in my office," it wasn't a question.
Civet didn't need any more of an excuse and Miller wasn't exactly far behind. When their footsteps had died away, Daphne finally let her gaze fall on Harry. Any ideas that had been forming at the back of Harry's mind to blame Daphne, to let the anger that had been building up ever since his sudden realisation that the world had carried on without him for so long, died as soon as her eyes met his. All of the confidence that usually lay there was gone, instead Harry saw an all too familiar expression: regret.
"I can't believe you're actually here," she breathed. "I've been thinking about this for so long and now that you're really back…"
"Bit of a shock," Harry finished, a hint of bitterness creeping into his voice despite himself. Despite the guilt that was obvious all over her face, a tiny part of him couldn't help but blame her. This had been her test after all, but then, he'd been the one to volunteer. It was just like Andromeda had said, he'd had to go and play hero, but at what cost? "I know the feeling."
"Harry, I am so sorry. If I'd known… I didn't think it would ever happen like this." She faltered. "No, that's a lie." She sighed, biting at her lip. "I promised myself I wouldn't lie to you, so here's the truth. I did. But I tried to convince myself it wouldn't and when I couldn't I got scared, I lashed out and then before I could fix it you were gone."
"So that's why you were being so weird," Harry said, finally understanding the argument which for him had only been a day ago, yet for her it was three weeks in her past. Knowing Daphne she'd been obsessing on it ever since. It only took a single look at her for him to realise that he was right. The guilt was practically etched in her face, and it wasn't just because of how long she'd sent him away for.
"Partly," Daphne admitted in a small voice. "But also because it wasn't just anyone that was doing the test. It was you." She paused, as if trying to psyche herself up. Harry remained completely silent, waiting. He had long since learned that pushing Daphne would lead her closing herself off, if she was going to tell him then it would be in her own time. "I was scared of what would happen to you if something went wrong and what I'd do if you weren't here anymore."
"Daph -"
"No, I'm not done," Daphne said, holding up a hand. "These last three weeks have been some of the worst of my entire life. I blamed myself for what happened," Harry let out an exasperated sigh, he didn't mean to but he couldn't help it. As much as a part of him wanted to blame Daphne, he knew that he couldn't. If Miller was right and this had simply been a mistake, then how could she possibly be at fault? "Don't look at me like that, it's true. But that's not what I'm trying to say, well it kind of is, but not really." She let out a frustrated noise. "Look, I missed you and I had no idea how long you'd be gone. Well, in the beginning anyway, I figured it out eventually. But what I mean is that not knowing when you'd be back it was impossible. And it made me realise that I care about you, a lot and that I don't know what I'd do if you weren't in my life."
Harry stood there stunned, not quite sure to say and not entirely sure what she meant. Apparently his shocked silence went on too long because Daphne was suddenly speaking again, "you don't have to say anything. I just, I wanted to tell you, so there it is. I spent far too long lying to myself, I couldn't carry on lying to you as well."
And that was when it clicked. She wasn't talking about him like a friend, but rather something else. All the fears that he'd been at the heart of a one-sided relationship vanished, self-doubt and panic that she didn't, wouldn't feel the same, evaporated. Harry couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face, and even if he could, he didn't want to.
"You aren't the only one," Harry said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.
"Sorry?"
"You aren't the only one that was lying to themselves," Harry explained. He'd thought about telling her for so long, it was strange for the words finally be said out loud. He'd imagined doing it so many different ways, over dinner, at the Quidditch game the day before, or maybe even after a family meal. In none of his dreams had he pictured doing it in a lab after a failed experiment. But then, he had never imagined being the one to tell him first either. "I've wanted to tell you for ages but I could never think of how to do it and even when I did I thought you wouldn't feel the same."
"You mean?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded.
"Even after all this?"
"It wasn't your fault," Harry told her, somewhere along the way distance had closed between them. He wasn't sure which one of them had moved first, or maybe they both had. "Seriously, you can't blame yourself."
"I tried that," Daphne said, "it didn't work."
"Then maybe I can try and convince you," Harry suggested, his voice soft as he leant forwards and gently kissed her. It wasn't like how he had imagined it would be, he thought he would feel sick or nervous, but instead he just felt comfortable, like this was exactly where he was meant to be. Daphne stayed still for a moment and then before he knew it, she was kissing him back, her hands taking fistfuls of his jacket and pulling him closer.
"So did that help?" Harry asked when they broke apart, a goofy grin on his face.
"A little," Daphne shrugged, a small smile of her own brightening her already beautiful face.
"Good, I know how much all this means to you, I wouldn't want anything to ruin that."
"Meant," Daphne corrected.
"What?"
"It's over." Daphne told him, the smile disappearing. "The papers got a hold of what happened, Luidhard put me on leave and told me that once you came back that the project would be cancelled. It's too toxic."
"You're kidding?"
"No, the time-turners will be restored back to their original conditions. I have no idea who by, whoever Luidhard assigns, I guess. Technically I wasn't even meant to be here today."
"But that's not fair," Harry objected. It wasn't like it was the time-turner that had been at fault. It had been an administrative error, one which Harry wasn't going to admit to Miller but knew he was partly responsible for. Over the years he had always let the rumours of his adventures take the spotlight, never actually bothering to correct them. Even in the aftermath of the war Harry had kept to himself, letting others tell the tales of victory to the papers and allowing rumour and speculation to fill in the gaps. Had he not been so reluctant to tell Daphne about his life at Hogwarts then maybe none of this would have happened.
"It's the way it is," Daphne shrugged dejectedly.
"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "If I'd been anyone else they'd have let you carry on, right? Not every test is one hundred percent successful, there's always blips. You said that they happen all the time."
"But you're not anyone else," Daphne pointed out. "And this wasn't just a blip. You actually vanished and like I said, we had no idea when you'd be back until a few days ago."
"I thought you said they dropped it?"
"They did, I didn't," Daphne told him.
"But that must've taken you ages, how did you even manage it without access to all of this?"
"It wasn't easy," Daphne admitted. "And I might have to apologise to Tori and dad, I think they were going insane having to put up with me."
"I didn't know I had that effect on you," Harry smirked.
"You didn't, I just wanted to prove this all actually worked," Daphne retorted sarcastically. "It's going to be weird not working on this anymore."
"Is there nothing you can do?"
"No," Daphne sighed, "To be honest, I'm okay with it. Don't get me wrong, it's been amazing, well most of it has. But after everything that happened I kind of want a break from time-turners. There's plenty of other stuff I can do, I came across this book about time-dilation - it was when I was trying to figure out if travelling into the future would have any damaging influences." She took another breath, as if ready to carry on explaining, but then stopped herself. "But that's not important right now. There's places you need to be."
He wasn't about to argue with her. As great as it was to finally have told Daphne how he felt there was somewhere else he needed to be, someone else that needed him.
"Did they know? That I was coming back I mean."
"Andromeda's expecting you, Hermione knows too, I don't really know about Ron I assume she's told him."
"What do you mean?"
"We… had a bit of disagreement." Daphne explained awkwardly before quickly adding, "but don't worry about that now. We can fix that later. Go and see Teddy. It's Saturday, by the way, in case you were wondering."
"Won't they need to do more tests?" Harry asked, although it was only half-heartedly. There was nothing more in the world that he wanted in that moment than to see Teddy.
"Maybe, but we can do those later. I'll cover for you if they say anything. Go on, go see him, I know you want to."
"Thanks Daph, I'll see you later," Harry grinned and went to head out, but just as he reached the door he turned, taking on last look at her. There was only a moment of hesitation and then he was back by her side and kissing her once more. "Right," he said once they had broken apart, "now I'm really going."
oOo
The sun was hanging high in the sky when Harry arrived outside the Tonks household. It was quiet, only the noise of birds could be heard. It so far away from any muggles, so as they couldn't accidentally stumble upon an old witch and her grandson, that the sounds of cars and trucks were so far away that they could not be heard. It was brief slice of tranquillity, one which differed hugely from the hubbub of the Ministry that Harry, with more than a few glamour charms to disguise himself, had just fought his way through.
He didn't move for a moment, instead staring at the cottage. Three weeks. It had been three weeks since he had last been here. Yet for him, it had only been a day. For him Andromeda had only just warned him to be careful. A pang of guilt which was far too real to be ignored shot through him. If only he'd listened or thought about what might happen then maybe this would never happened. But he hadn't, he'd just wanted to help the woman he loved and ignored anything that suggested that it would be a bad idea. He knew he wasn't the only one to blame, that it wasn't even truly his fault. It had been an accident. But he couldn't shake the guilt regardless. He'd sworn that he would never leave Teddy and that he would always be there for his godson. But he hadn't and the pain of that was going to be with him a long time.
Twigs and gravel crunched under his feet as he slowly began to make his way towards the house. Now that he was here, actually walking towards them, Harry couldn't stop the many stories that his brain had concocted, stories that he had desperately been trying to shut out. All the possibilities of how leaving could have affected Teddy, how the tiny boy might feel rejected, abandoned or lost without his godfather. How would have coped? Would he even have understood what was going on? If there was thing Harry was sure of, it was that Andromeda would have told Teddy.
She hated secrets, especially between family. Harry couldn't blame her. After all, her husband had died trying to protect her without telling her, her cousin hadn't been the mass-murderer that everyone thought he had been and her daughter had hidden her love for a werewolf for the best part of a year. So if there was one person that wasn't going to sugar-coat the truth, no matter how painful, it was Andromeda. She would have been right too, Harry knew, because Teddy had a right to know.
The fist he raised to knock stayed hovering just in front of the door. Seconds dragged by, all Harry had wanted was to his godson again but now that he was actually there it felt all too real. A selfish instinct within him was desperate to leave, so as he didn't have to face the disappoint or the tears that might come. No. Harry had promised himself that he would always be there for Teddy. No matter what.
The knock hollow against the dull wood, the sunlight casting Harry's dark shadow over the door. There were a few brief moments of silence, then muffled footsteps and within seconds the door was pulled back to reveal the face of Andromeda Tonks. She stared at him, not saying anything, her face empty, not shocked just blank. Then her brow furrowed in Harry was all too familiar with.
"You're late," was all she said, her voice serious and her eyes dark.
"Erm," Harry managed, any words or speeches that he'd been planning in the long walk up the drive and the terrible moment at the front door vanishing from his lips. Had his trip really effected them that badly? What had happened? Did she blame him for whatever had happened to Teddy? Harry was so bewildered that he almost didn't notice the brief flicker of a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. And then she really was smiling and a wave of relief washed over Harry as the blind panic faded.
"Welcome home," Andromeda beamed as she pulled him into a warm, firm hug which Harry gratefully returned.
"That was not funny. Never do that again," Harry said.
"I could say the same to you," Andromeda countered without even a hint of real anger in her voice. Instead it was just concern. She pulled away from him, taking a small step back into her home. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Harry assured her. "How about you?"
"Better for seeing you," Andromeda smiled sadly. "Now come in, I've got someone here who's dying to see you."
It didn't take long for Harry to find out who she was talking about. There was an excited scream almost as soon as the door shut and Harry stepped into the house, which was then followed by the sound of running and a tiny something slamming into him.
"Uncle Harry's back!" Teddy Lupin shouted excitedly, holding onto Harry's midriff for dear life. "Uncle Harry!"
"Hey kiddo," Harry grinned, stooping down so as he could pick up his godson. Any worries about Teddy hating him for leaving vanished almost instantly as he looked at the small boy's excited grin. Harry bent down and scooped up his godson who giggled happily. All the anger, guilt and some other stuff he had even had time to process yet seemed to fade as he held his godson in his arms.
"I told you he'd be back!" Teddy beamed.
"Always," Harry vowed, his voice cracking a little. "I'm never going anywhere again, I promise you. Both of you."
"Really?" Teddy asked hopefully, his eyes wide and full of childlike innocence.
"Really," it wasn't just a promise to his godson or Andromeda. It was a promise to himself. He'd been stupid, selfish. There were people counting on him, being an auror he'd always felt isolated from that reality. He took risks everyday, it had just been something that happened. But leaving like that, abandoning them, there was no way he could ever do that again. The one thing he'd promised himself all those years ago was to not be absent like Sirius had been, no matter how accidentally he had broken that promise once already. There wasn't going to be a second time.
The rest of the afternoon vanished in a whirl of games and making up for lost time with Teddy. It was only when Harry had taken Teddy up to bed that the conversation that had been hanging in the air between him and Andromeda was broached.
"What was it like?" she asked, her hands clasping a piping hot mug of tea and the smile that had brightened her face all day conspicuous by its absence. The sun was just setting casting a reddish light across her as she looked at Harry. Autumn may be fast approaching but summer was still dragging out the days.
"It was nothing, just like blinking." Harry told her.
"So for you yesterday was weeks ago?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded, a little guilty, he recognised the pain in her voice. "I'm sorry."
"Good," Andromeda said, "I warned you about those things, Harry. I told you they weren't safe and what did you do?"
Harry stayed silent, he'd been expecting this, but that didn't make it any easier. For all the relief and happiness, Andromeda had still had to face losing him for good, just like everyone else he had let her down. The only reason this hadn't come earlier was because of Teddy. But Teddy wasn't going to hear this and so Harry was fair game.
"You didn't listen to me." Andromeda filled in. "I even asked you not to do it, again, what did you do?"
"I'm sorry, I really am. If I could go back, stop myself from doing it, I would. But I can't."
"This isn't the old days, Harry, you can't just go rushing in like you've got nothing to lose."
"Don't you think I know that?"
"Evidently not, you're making decisions for more than just yourself. You've been good to Teddy, you always have, but you can't just put everything at risk like that again. I know why you felt like you had to do it, you were just trying to help, but you can't fix everything, Harry. There would've been others, someone, anyone else. I don't care who, just… just not you."
"I'm not going anywhere again," Harry said gently, moving over to Andromeda. He could see the tears beginning to shimmer in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "I should've listened to you."
"Yes, you should," Andromeda agreed, her voice absent of the coldness he had been expecting. Instead, she just sounded forlorn. It would have been better if she was angry, this was just heart-breaking.
"Well, from now on I will," Harry promised, he leant against the arm of her chair, pulling her into a one arm hug. He felt her head rest against his shoulder and it took all he had not to cry himself. It was one thing realising that he'd left them, abandoned them. It was quite another to actually see it. They stayed like that for a long moment, neither of them saying anything. There was nothing that could be said. No apology was ever going to be good enough. It was going to take time, but someday he'd prove that he wasn't just dishing out meaningless words. He really, truly meant this.
"Good," Andromeda said eventually, her head still resting against his shoulder. "Because I'm not always going to be here to look after him, Harry."
"Don't talk like that."
"Why not? It's the truth, you know that more than anyone." She paused for a moment, letting out a small sigh. "What happened to you it's made us all think. For all we knew you could've been gone for months, years even. We got lucky. You're back. But that doesn't change anything. Don't misunderstood me, I'm glad you're home. But you're a constant in his life… our lives. Seeing you just disappear like that, it was hard. It made me realise just how fragile life can be sometimes. I tried to forget, after Dora and Remus and… Ted. But someday the same is going to happen to me and that's okay. When it does, you have to promise me you'll be here for him."
"I promise," Harry said quickly, earnestly for he needed to really understand that he meant it. "I never thought anything like this would happen, really. I just wanted to help. If I'd known -"
"I know, I know you'd never leave him or me or any of us on purpose. But next time think before you leap."
"I will," Harry promised.
"That's good enough for me," Andromeda said forcing a thin smile as she finally pulled away from him. "Now, it's getting late and I think there's somebody else you should see."
"Ron?" Harry guessed, but it wasn't difficult, the pained look on Andromeda's face gave it away almost instantly. "Daph told me, sort of, she was kind of vague."
"Hmm," Andromeda murmured. "Why does that not surprise me?"
"What's that mean?"
"That both she and Ron did things they ought not to be proud of." Andromeda explained, somewhat cryptically. At Harry's look of clear bewilderment she continued. "They both missed you and when the Greengrass girl explained what happened Ron did not take it well. In fact he blamed her, which as you can imagine went down like dragon dung," Harry let out a low groan Daphne's hesitancy suddenly making sense. "They got into a shouting match until I threw the pair of them out and then to make matters worse -"
"There's more?"
"She ambushed Hermione a few days later, asking about that time-turner you two used to save Sirius. Don't ask me why but she didn't think to ask Hermione if it was an alright time, I think she had known what was happening she'd have waited."
"Why?"
"Ron and Hermione are engaged," Andromeda said plainly. Harry stared his brain freezing for a moment shock clouding all of his senses. Yes, he'd been expecting it at some point, sure. But every time he had imagined it he had always been there to celebrate with his two best friends. In his head Ron had taken him aside, asked what he thought and then Harry had egged him on and watched knowingly from a few tables away as Ron popped the question. He had never been expecting this.
"I was only gone three weeks," Harry heard himself say eventually as his brain began to kick back into gear.
"Like I said it was hard you being gone, we all realised how fast things can change. I think it gave him the push he needed." Andromeda explained. "The party was sweet, you'd have liked it. Except the part where he found Greengrass on his doorstep." Harry felt his heart sink, the sudden warmth that had filled it over his two best friends finally realising that they were going to get married – like everyone else had for years – faded. "It wasn't pretty. The healer friend, what's her name?"
"Tracey,"
"Well, she was there too and she didn't take kindly to how Ron spoke to Greengrass. In fact, she slapped him. Though, I must say he did deserve it. He said that you'd hate Greengrass when you got back and that you'd blame her like he had."
"No way," Harry breathed, "but I'd never do that." It was true, least of all because Harry had taken on so much of the blame himself. The pain on her face, the hours he'd spent playing with Teddy and the talk he'd just had with Andromeda all made him feel worse. He should've thought it through, listened to Daphne and Andromeda and not just assumed that everything would be okay. This wasn't her fault, it had been an accident and one that only he could have avoided. It had been he who had volunteered, ignored advice and not really thought about the prospect of it going wrong.
"Daph didn't want any of this," Harry continued.
"I know that and so does Ron really, he was just angry. I can understand why. You and he have only just started talking again after everything that happened with her."
"You can say her name, I don't mind."
"I'd rather not," Andromeda said bitterly. "Everything may not have been perfect but it was still no excuse. But my point is, he'd just got you back and then you disappeared before he had chance to make up for all that lost time. And you know how he gets."
"Irrational and stubborn, yeah, I do." Harry muttered, he'd been on the end of Ron's anger before. It wasn't a nice place to be, particularly when he was protecting his friends. Harry had only ever experienced Ron's jealousy he had no idea what it would be like to face his best mate's protective rage.
"It was hard for everyone," Andromeda said again.
"How about you, do you blame Daph?"
"I did, for a while," Andromeda admitted, "but she kept me in the loop, gave me updates every day about how her tests were going and when she finally figured out when you'd be home she told me straight away. She didn't have to do that. It meant a lot that she did. So, while she may not be my favourite person in the world right now, no, I don't blame her. This was an accident. Neither of you are at fault, even both of you could have done with thinking it through a bit more and don't think I don't know you're blaming yourself."
"I thought I was hiding it quite well."
"You thought wrong," Andromeda said, a small smile gracing her lips. "You're too kind for your own good and that includes taking the blame for things that are not to be laid at your door. And yes, I realise that saying that won't help and that you're still going to do it regardless."
"Probably," Harry nodded. "But thank you anyway."
"You're welcome, it's what family's for. Now go on, it's getting late."
"Okay," Harry sighed as he got to his feet. He stepped away from Andromeda, collecting his jacket from the chair. She led him silently to the door and once the door was opened letting in the cool summer night air Harry wrapped Andromeda in a firm hug. He stood there for a while putting all his remorse and gratitude, every ounce of feeling that he could muster. Accident or not she had been right to accuse him of not thinking, of not realising how dire the consequences could be, a mistake he would never make again.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Harry said once they had broken apart.
"Yes, see you tomorrow," Andromeda smiled. "Try not to be too harsh on either of them."
"I won't be," Harry assured her before giving a final wave and heading back up the garden path. He hadn't realised how much he had missed when they had told him he had been gone three weeks. But as he traipsed out of the magical boundaries of Andromeda's garden, the full reality of just how different this world was began to sink in. His friends were engaged, his best friend and Daphne had fought, perhaps broken any chance at a friendship forever and Merlin only knew what else. Life really could be fragile sometimes, Harry just hoped it was not beyond repair.
