A/N: Thank you so much to silentflame11891, strezman, Kermit 304, HallowRain8587 and gjasmine59 for their reviews on chapter 9! I'm glad I'm back too, now that the school year and exams are over, so hopefully there will be no more long hiatus'. Hopefully being the key word here. ;)

RxExR!

Pictures on a Wall

Chapter 10 - The Summer That Followed

Minerva smiled as she poured herself a cup of hot Earl Grey tea, remembering that she still had to get some lemon juice for the aforementioned cup of tea. Hogwarts had closed up for the holidays a good month ago and ever since she had been in Greece, enjoying the sunshine and the much milder climate of the Mediterranean.

She hadn't thought that she would be going to Greece of all places for her summer vacation, but after listening to Hermione's and Draco's speech at the graduation and talking to them about it afterwards had inspired her to literally take some time off and leave the country for a bit.

Draco had mentioned that Greece was a wonderful place to spend the summer as he and Hermione had apparently journeyed there in their first summer together as a married couple. They had loved it and Hermione had told her quite a few tales of the beautiful ancient ruins that they had visited and the gorgeous beaches.

So far, walks on those beaches and the sunshine were working wonders for her.

She hadn't actually believed that leaving England for an extended period of time would do her any good, but it actually had, as Sybil had also confirmed quite emphatically. The fact that the Divinations Professor was her companion on her vacation already told her how strange this all was. When the other woman had heard where she was heading for her summer vacation, she had asked whether it would be okay to join her and to her own surprise, she had said that it would be perfectly fine for Sybil to join her.

While she didn't necessarily agree with the woman's chosen subject, she was quite an amusing person to spend some time with. She was completely and utterly eccentric and apparently took great joy in confusing the daylights out of some poor unsuspecting Muggles. She had borne witness to the spectacle several times now, where Sybil would look at a person, shake her head gravely and then proceed to tell them about their whole future. It was surprisingly amusing to watch the other professor do this as the poor fools fell for it over and over again.

It sort of went against her moral code to allow another professor under her leadership to act like that but as she had decided at the beginning of the summer to relax a bit, she had also decided not to say anything about it.

And whether anything Sybil said was true or not was something that she wasn't even going to think about.

And now that she was essentially not arguing with her the whole time about whether her predictions were utter codswallop or not, she was actually getting along with her rather well. The Divinations Professor was surprisingly astute and insightful once one let her be and a good conversationalist.

The roaring flames of the fireplace caught her attention and she turned with a smile to see Kingsley's face appear in the flames. He was perfectly punctual, as always.

"Kingsley." She greeted his green face warmly.

"Minerva, how are you? How is Greece treating you?" The Minister appraised the sunhat hanging on her chair and the flowery dress that she was wearing. "I have to say that you look more relaxed than I have ever seen you."

"That is because I am more relaxed than I have been in a long time. I have to send my thanks to Hermione and Draco for suggesting this island because I believe that it has just become my new place for future vacations." She took a sip of her tea, glad that it was now a bit less hot.

"I'm sure that they will be glad to hear it." Kingsley nodded.

"They are in France at the moment, are they not?" She asked next, knowing that whyever he had called her would be addressed sooner or later anyway.

"They are. They kept their house there and go there every summer and Christmas with the whole family."

"Lucius and Narcissa too?" She had been quite surprised to find that Hermione seemingly got along quite well with her in-laws.

"Yes. And as I understand it, Mister Finnigan frequents their house with his children quite often, as do Mister Goyle and his fiancée."

"She's your secretary, right?" She took another sip from her tea. She remembered the porridge that they had enjoyed for breakfast that morning and that it had been a little dry for her tastes. Some milk would probably have made it taste even better. She would have to remember to remind Sybil of that later.

"Yes, she transferred to our Ministry three years ago. She's, quite frankly, the best secretary that I've had since starting this job."

"Are you running for Minister again once your term is up?" She queried, getting up briefly to check whether they still had any milk for tomorrow morning and noting that it was nearly empty. They would have to get some new milk this afternoon then.

"Probably, I still have quite a bit that I want to achieve. But that's not why I flooed you."

"No, I didn't think it was." Ah, they were finally getting to the crux of the matter.

Kingsley looked faintly amused. "The aurors have been investigating who or what caused the preservation spell."

"Have they found anything?" She leaned forward slightly, her posture still remaining upright.

"Not yet, but I thought that I should tell you that we are close. Aurors Goyle and Hatcher found a tracing or rather monitoring spell on the preservation spell. Apparently a former Minister believed that the spell could be used in a bad way so he had the auror department implement a sort of tracing spell on it."

"And we cannot have that for the Imperius, Cruciatus or the Killing Curse?" Minerva asked, feeling slightly unnerved that the Ministry was able to monitor the spell. It felt a bit too much like control.

"No as the auror who originally invented the spell died before he was able to tell anyone else how to cast it. The monitoring spell is currently on three different spells and one of them is the preservation spell. As you know, the florists have to get the permission of the Ministry to use those spells in large quantities."

"Yes." She leaned back now, to rest in the comfortable chair once more.

"Well, records are kept here at the Ministry of who, or rather, which wand casts the spell. So now the aurors are going through the records to find out who it was. Soon you will be able to know who it was."

"Thank you Kingsley." She felt relieved. While losing a decade hadn't been so hard on her due to her already advanced age, she knew that especially the younger ones desired to know who was to blame for the whole situation.

"I'll see you after your vacation Minerva, enjoy the rest of it." He nodded his goodbye.

"I shall meet you for tea afterwards." She graced him with a smile.

With a small puff of green flames his face vanished into the embers and she allowed herself to lean back completely in the chair.

It would be good to know why they had been put under that spell, it was the one thing that she couldn't quite comprehend. What would anyone gain by 'preserving' them in essence? Her mind failed to supply her with a rational answer and it irritated her.

"You're thinking too hard again." Sybil said as she gracefully plopped herself down in the chair opposite the small table.

"I do not think 'too hard'." She replied rather indignantly.

"You do, my dear. I can see it by the lines on your face." The Divinations Professor cast an eye over her brow.

"Please refrain from trying to read my future from my brow." She replied with a raised eyebrow. She may tolerate Sybil doing it with others but she had absolutely no desire to experience the divinations herself.

"One reads the future from the hands and not the brow." Sybil poured herself a cup of tea. "And I know that you have no desire for me to tell you yours."

"That doesn't seem to stop you from reading the children's." Minerva lifted the cup to her lips once more.

"Their futures are so flexible that it does not really matter what I say to them anyway." The Divinations Professor sounded slightly dismissive. "And the least of them have any regard for my art anyway so they do not deserve any proper divinations."

"You just enjoy scaring them." Minerva had figured out, around the second week into their vacation, that Sybil enjoyed pretending to be completely batty. Apparently she was left alone to her own devices more frequently then, as well as other teachers not entrusting her with too many responsibilities such as overlooking detentions which Minerva knew to be horribly tedious.

"Maybe." A mysterious twinkle lit up the other woman's eyes and Minerva chuckled drily.

"Filius sent a letter by the way. He's found some new teaching methods over in the States that he finds absolutely fascinating. He wants to go over them with you before the years starts because he thinks that they might do the children some good." Sybil commented after a couple of minutes of silence.

"We shall see." She looked out of the window and took note of the gentle breeze blowing. "What about Pomona and Hagrid? Have we heard anything from them?"

"Hagrid's still in France as far as I know with Madame Maxime and Pomona wrote something about the third greenhouse coming along just fine. She's already managed to get the second one up and running again."

"That is good to hear." Minerva set down her cup and continued to watch the sunlight dancing on the terrace.

"We need to get some new milk." Sybil stated half an hour later, just as she had been beginning to doze off.

"We do." She concurred.

"Should we go now?" The Divinations Professor was already on her feet, getting her shawl.

"We should." Minerva got up and stretched slightly.

She really should have done something like this ages ago. She really would have to thank Draco and Hermione for giving her the idea.

~.~.~.~.~

Pansy fingered the edge of her shirt nervously as she waited for Ron to appear. They had decided that they would be meeting up for lunch in Muggle London today, in some Italian place that Hermione had recommended they visit. And despite having now been dating Ron for nearly four months, the longest that she'd ever been with anyone, she still got nervous when they went out together on dates.

Luna called it adorable, she just found it plain annoying.

"Pansy!" Ron's voice broke her out of her musings and she looked up to see him walking towards her. He must have apparated into some alleyway instead of taking the usual way through the Leaky Cauldron. Which she understood perfectly considering that he, along with Harry and Hermione, were considered practically wizarding royalty around here.

She now knew why Hermione and Draco had lived in France until nearly three years ago and why they still insisted on living so far away from other people and in the Muggle world as opposed to the wizarding one. The journalists had become even more terrifying in the last decade.

"Ron." She smiled slightly, her eyes lighting up. Ron admired what on her face was a full-blown grin. He knew that Pansy wasn't one for showing her emotions excessively and he was happy that he of all people was able to make her so happy. He sometimes felt as though he really didn't deserve her, a concept that she had quickly shot down once she had heard of it.

Apparently it was her that didn't deserve him and not the other way around; something that he found just as ridiculous. They had hence agreed that since they both found the other's notions ridiculous, they were and ever since then he had quashed the thought as soon as it had come up.

They kissed briefly, as a way of greeting, before walking down the street with their hands entwined. Both were awed by how well they managed to get along, despite their occasional spats and appreciated the easy nature of their relationship.

"What's the matter?" She knew that something was bugging him and decided to ask outright, her boyfriend would only brood on the matter otherwise, it was simply who he was.

"It's Harry." He muttered and she sighed, now knowing where this conversation would be going. It was a conversation that they'd been having the whole summer and to be frank, they were getting sick of it.

"He's still mad?" She had known that Ron's family wouldn't be happy, but she had expected Harry to be a bit more understanding.

"Yeah." Ron nodded and sighed. "He doesn't understand why we'd want to go to Japan of all places."

"Well, for one, it's far away. Two, because we've got job offers there. And three, nearly nobody knows us." Pansy listed, sounding slightly exasperated.

"I know that Pansy, after all, I decided to move there too. But Harry doesn't seem to understand why we don't want to stay in England." Ron ran a hand through his hair, clearly annoyed.

"And with him." Pansy stated, her lips slightly pinched.

"Yeah." Ron let out another frustrated sigh. "I mean, we'll still be in touch and all but I really need a break. I need to find my own place on my own two feet. And that won't happen here where all I'm known as is 'Harry Potter's best friend' and 'one of the Weasley kids'."

"He's still not coping, is he?" Pansy asked softly, knowing that this was what was probably really worrying her boyfriend.

"Yeah." Ron deflated a bit, pulling her closer in the process. "You should see him Pans, he's literally building Grimauld Place from scratch again. He tore down one of the walls with his hands two days ago and is clearing away the rubble manually. Manually, Pans. He's a bloody wizard and he's doing it with his hands." Ron shook his head in exasperation.

"It's his way of coping." She reminded him softly.

"I know, but he's been 'coping' like this for nearly two months now. He only leaves the house in order to get food or come to the Burrow, otherwise he remains holed up in there. And Gin's not much better. She's literally driving mum insane by doing circuits around the house on her broom." Ron's eyes lit up as they reached the restaurant and the ordering of the food distracted them from the conversation for a couple of minutes.

As always, they faithfully returned back to it though.

"They'll be fine, Ron. And if not, we're always going to be a floo call away." She put her hand on his and he smiled softly, nodding and deciding to let the conversation rest. It wouldn't be going anywhere anyway.

"So, have you decided on whether we should have a T.V. or not yet?" He asked and she took the bait knowingly as the flow of the conversation turned to their new appartment in Kyoto.

Three weeks ago, Hermione had told the two of them about a job opportunity over in Japan. She had stumbled upon it by chance when she and Draco had gone there in order to check whether opening up a branch of Stellar Potions in Tokyo would be profitable or not. She had told all of them about it, but Harry had shot it down immediately, saying that he didn't want to leave England. Luna had already gained a position as an apprentice to Doctor Lorcan Scamander, son of the famous Newton Scamandar, and would be off to Brazil once the summer was over in order to assist the man on his journey of continuing his father's chronicles of magical beasts.

Blaise, on the other hand, was starting a job in the Department of Mysteries, something that Ron would have pegged Luna for actually. And while neither Blaise nor Luna were particularly happy with being seperated, Luna had already secured herself a job as a magizoologist should she complete her year's training with Doctor Scamander.

Therefore the two of them weren't interested in going anywhere else. And Ginny's reaction had been the same as Harry's; she hadn't had any intention of leaving England at all, despite not even having a job offer yet at the time.

She and Ron, on the other hand, had been intrigued by the offer. It was from a small Japanese restaurant, run by one of Hermione's friends from her time in Beauxbatons. What she needed were two people that could speak fluent English as the restaurant was often frequented by British tourists. What was special about it though was the fact that they had to genuinly be able to speak English as the Japanese Ministry had decreed that in areas where there were a lot of Muggles, magic was completely prohibited. Therefore translation spells were out of the question. The Ministry had decided to impose this rule after one Muggle too many had accidentally stumbled upon their society.

So they would essentially be living like Muggles for a lot of the time.

Ron had been delighted by the idea as he had obviously taken Hermione's and Draco's words to heart. That coupled with his reputation here in England resting pretty much solely on other people had caused him to take the offer after a good week of deliberation. Pansy had also jumped at the opportunity because she really needed to get away from England. Former death eaters were still a hated group of people here in England and she couldn't go out onto the streets in the wizarding world without either being accosted by a reporter or someone who had lost a loved one to the war.

To be perfectly honest, she was completely sick of it.

And then there was the whole thing with Lavender.

While she had accepted that Ron was planning on playing a part in Lavender's life due to their unborn child, she did not like the way that Lavender was currently acting. The other woman had practically moved into the Burrow after being denounced by her family for her unwillingness to marry Ron (as well as his outright refusal to) which was understandable. Not understandable, however, was the way that she was playing nice with the rest of the Weasleys, which was in essence undermining her position as Ron's girlfriend. Ron was equally uncomfortable with Lavender always being so close so therefore the job in Japan would give both of them the required distance from the whole situation. They would be returning for the birth of Ron's child and Ron would drop by at least once a month to see the boy or girl.

Which was another thing that Ron was annoyed about. Lavender was refusing to find out the gender of the child, insisting on being surprised when the child was born while Ron clearly wanted to know. It was becoming more and more clear that Lavender was monopolizing her position as the mother, which Pansy found understandable, as in many ways the unborn child was the only thing that Lavender could really call her own.

"I'm looking forward to it." Ron said as they walked out of the restaurant after their meal two hours later.

"So am I. I think we need it." Pansy said softly and Ron nodded, his hand entwined with hers once more.

"As much as I hate to admit it, the ferret was right in saying that this place is amazing." Ron muttered a couple of minutes later and Pansy snorted in amusement. Ron still disliked her best friend immensely, just like she felt some lingering traces of dislike for Hermione. They had been on opposite sides for so long that it was simply the way they worked. She was sure that it was the same for Draco and Hermione.

"It was rather good." Pansy conceded, deciding not to call him out on his use of the name 'ferret'.

"They're moving back to France, aren't they?" Ron asked as they turned another corner.

"Yeah." Pansy nodded. "They've managed to open up the branch here in England successfully and Finnigan is staying here to run the unit here. Draco says that they miss France too much and lately he's been called over quite a few times as there have been issues in the headquarters there. And he absolutely hates travelling by floo frequently." She was glad that she and Draco had been able to renew their friendship. After last Christmas she had thought it would be impossible. "Why?"

"One of the things Harry mentioned when I saw him earlier." Ron said.

"He'll be fine. He just needs some time to adjust." Pansy repeated.

"I'm just worried Pans. With you and me moving away in two weeks and Hermione going back to France next month, his best friends will be gone. And Luna's off to Brazil and Blaise's gonna be busy in the Department of Mysteries. And Gin's starting her training with the Holyhead Harpies so we're all going to be all over the place." Ron looked genuinely distressed.

"But don't forget that Harry's starting his new job at the auror office too which will keep him more than busy and out of the house for quite a number of hours during the day. And he'll still be seeing Doctor Reed once a fortnight, just like the rest of us are." The psychiatrist that Kingsley had forced them all to see really was helping, at least he was helping her, and Pansy was sure that Harry would be fine.

He was the man who'd defeated Voldemort after all.

And anyway, she was sure that they would all be fine again at some point in the future, now that they actually had one to look forward to again.

~.~.~.~.~

Tonks sighed heavily as she sat down next to her husband's bed while Teddy flitted around the place, happily changing the colour of both his hair and eyes at will. She had accidentally lost control over her abilities when Remus had woken from his coma three days ago and Teddy had apparently found it so 'cool' that he was now trying to change his own features as fast as humanly possible.

It still astounded her, even after getting to know and living with her son for over half a year now, that he had such a good control over his metamorphic abilities. She had been terrified, before meeting him, that he would view his powers as a curse, as she also had when she had been younger.

Teddy loved every bit about his powers though, showing off to her and her mother at every chance that he got. It was fascinating to watch him experiment with his powers to the extent that he did.

"Tonks." Remus' voice was raspy from misuse and she smiled gently down at him as she reached for his hand. She clasped it tightly between her own and his own smile was faint.

"Remus." She looked over him, attempting to see whether anything had changed.

"I'm fine, getting better slowly." He answered her unasked question and both turned their heads when Teddy's giggle met their ears. He was making faces at his own reflection in the window.

Both felt a mixed sense of awe and regret flow through them as they watched their son enjoy himself. It was hard to live with the knowledge that they had missed out on such a substantial part of their son's life but it was something that they were slowly getting used to. He was such a bundle of energy and it made them smile just to look at him.

They would be just fine.

Remus had woken up and was slowly beginning to walk down the path to recovery. She had regained her job as an auror at the Ministry and Teddy was going to start Hogwarts next year. Things were going at a snail's pace but they were getting there. Finally.