All the World's a Stage
"All the world's a stage;
and all the men and women,
merely players." -Jacques from
William Shakespeare's
As You Like It
"I don't understand why we need this thing," Andromeda sneers as she levitates Remus off the sofa he had passed out on.
"He is for the ritual... you should remember that, mother," her daughter replies as she looks about the house. "Our Lord needs the blood of a werewolf and since Greyback is out of the country trying to organise the werewolf rebellion in Romania, this is our next best thing. Especially since the full moon is tomorrow."
"Of course I remember, I just hate to be around him. I don't understand how you could have allowed this filthy beast to touch you." Andromeda states as she scrunches her nose.
"We all had to make sacrifices for the sake of Our Lord. Believe me there were times I wished nothing more than to bathe in a tub of acid to get the feel of him off me, but I knew that it was all part of a bigger plan and I took faith in the plan. Now that the plan has bore fruit, we can now be rid of our pasts. He will be used as a sacrifice after he turns and we will have one less obstacle in our way."
"But he was taking Wolfsbane potion... wouldn't that stop him from turning?" The middle Black sister asks. "And what in Merlin's name did you give him that knocked him out? You were not even here when he came back to the house."
"Severus made a potion that tastes just like Wolfsbane, but does nothing to stop the transformation. As for incapacitating him..." Nymphadora smirks as she continues looking about the house. "You would have to ask Hermione about the details of that potion. Ah..." She walks back towards the hearth. "Here it is."
Andromeda looks at the object in her daughter's hand and frowns. "Why do you need a sewing needle?"
"This is what incapacitated the wolf," the younger witch states as she places the pin in a leather pouch. "Hermione based it off that muggle story that you would read to me as a child."
"Wait... you mean Sleeping Beauty?"
"That's the one," Nymphadora says as she puts the pouch back into her robes. "I'm not sure what she did with it, but she said the needle would be perfectly harmless once he pricked himself on it."
Andromeda shakes her head and sighs, "The story wasn't originally muggle. Only throughout the centuries did the muggles learn of it and decide to change the story to fit their needs. In the original story, the young girl, Aurora, was a witch who had tried to have her mother's sister killed because she feared that the older witch was loved by the people more than she was. So, she had poisoned Maleficent and hired mercenaries to drop her body in the dark forest where horrible creatures were said to have lived. The girl, thinking that her aunt was dead, went about her life as if nothing had happened.
"As the years went by, the people soon forgot about the older witch as well and people began fawning over Aurora with renewed spirits. Little did she know that her aunt was alive and well. The girl did not use the proper amount of poisons and the supposed terrible animals in the forest were a myth. But it wasn't until Aurora's fifteenth birthday that Maleficent decided to make an appearance. She cursed the young witch by saying the girl would die on her sixteenth birthday by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel." Andromeda looks at her daughter. "I believe you know the rest of the real story."
"The girl was spellbound on her next birthday and pricked her finger on the needle of the spinning wheel," Nymphadora frowns, "but I do not remember her dying. She was awakened by true love's first kiss."
"That part was a lie as well," her mother replies. "The needle was dipped in Draught of Living Death; but her parents so racked with guilt over their only daughter dying, decided to have a funeral pyre and burned their daughter alive along with the spinning wheel that she had cut herself upon so no one else could be hurt by the cursed machine."
"They did not realise their daughter was still alive?" Nymphadora asks incredulously. "I mean, they had magic as well, right? So they should have known their daughter was alive?"
"Draught of Living Death was not common knowledge back then," Andromeda replies. "If memory serves me correctly, I believe it was Maleficent that created the potion in the first place." She turns back towards the floating wizard and walks towards the fireplace. "Now come, I fear we may have stayed too long. Bella and Hermione should be finished with their task by now and are wondering what has kept us."
The two witches walk towards the fireplace. Andromeda reaches up to take a handful of floo powder when they hear the front door creak open. "Andromeda? Are you here?" a voice calls out from the front of the house.
"Shit, it's Arthur," Andy mutters as she levitates Lupin's body into the fireplace. "You need to get out of here, Dora. Take the wolf back to Our Lord; I will take care of the Weasley sire."
"Mother, you must come back with me," Tonks whispers as she grips her mother's arm. "What if he knows everything? What if he tries to hurt you to get back at Bellatrix?"
Andromeda pats her daughter's hand then slowly extracts it from her arm. "Listen to him, he's drunk. Just go, I will be along shortly. Just think of how He will reward us for bringing another soul to Him. There will be no one to help the boy by the time we finish." She pushes Nymphadora towards the fireplace and drops the floo powder into the hearth. Andromeda quickly whispers the name of Narcissa's home and the fireplace erupts in a green glow. Maybe he will believe I just arrived at the house.
"Andromeda?" Arthur's shaky voice slurs out as he nears the sitting room. "Are you home?"
She softly clears her throat and takes a deep breath. "Arthur?! Is that you? I just came back home after seeing Nymphadora." The witch watches as he staggers into the room. She frowns slightly at his rumpled sweat stained clothes."What on earth happened to you, Arthur?"
"They're gone..." he stammers. "They all left. I have no one now."
Andromeda shakes her head as if not understanding. "What do you mean? Who's gone?" She moves closer to the man, but has to hold her breath when she smells the alcohol escaping from his pores. "By Merlin, have you been drinking?"
"My family... I have no one left!" he cries out in anguish as he stumbles when his foot catches on the rug. "First Ron. Now Ginny, Fred, George and Molly have disappeared! They were here!" He shouts as he looks her in the eyes. "Why aren't they here?"
He suspects something, she thinks as she takes a deep breath to quickly think of something to say. "Arthur, they left a few days ago. Molly said she wanted to go home to pick up a few things and to bring you back to my house as well. Did you not see her?" Andromeda asks as she hopes her voice sounds full of concern and not sarcasm.
"She... She did?" He questions warily. Arthur thinks for a moment before continuing. "No. I did not see her. Why would she have come to the Burrow? I told her I was perfectly safe there and wanted to see if Harry would show back up so I could bring him here. I thought it best for her to be where it was safer, though I know no Death-Eater would show back up at the Burrow... not after they nearly torched the place the last time they were there. If she didn't come home like you said, where would she have gone?"
"I'm not sure, Arthur," Andromeda replies as she places a hand on the broken man's shoulder. "Would she have went any other place besides the Burrow? Any place your family owns that would be safe and that no one from the other side would suspect?"
The older wizard stares into the distance not answering. "Arthur?"
"Did you see this?" He asks suddenly as he reaches inside his robe. Andromeda takes a step back fearful as to what he may take out of his pocket. "The Prophet... It's madness I tell you, simply madness." He hands her the rolled up newspaper and then sits down on the sofa.
It couldn't have made the papers already, Andromeda thinks to herself as she unrolls the paper and looks at the page it had been turned to. Smirking to herself, she slowly begins to relax as she realises it is the same paper Minerva had been reading from a few days prior. The witch pretends to read it, all the while glancing over the top of the paper to see what the wizard would do while he thought she was distracted.
"Do you think it true?" Andromeda asks as she gently folds the paper back and hands it back to the wizard.
"How could I even begin to think the whole bloody mess is true?" Arthur retorts with a snort and stuffs the paper back into his robes. "She killed my son and basically sent his body back in pieces to my family! Imperius curse my arse!" He stands up and starts to pace the room.
"But what if it is true?" Andromeda counters softly as she looks at Arthur. "What if they had her under their control? What if it happened when they were captured? You do not know how my sister is, Arthur. She is mad. She would find any way to destroy someone. She breaks down every bit of them before she decides to kill them. She..."
"You forget, Andromeda," the wizard interrupts. "I went to school with her. We were in the same year, I know exactly what sort of demon your sister is."
"Demon she may be, but that is still my sister you speak of, Arthur," the middle Black sister spits back before her mind could catch up to her mouth.
"Oh, so you still care for the bitch that threatened to kill you for being a blood-traitor?" Arthur questions as he turns to face the witch. "You haven't seen your sister since she nearly killed you over twenty years ago, but you would still defend her to someone who helped you, your husband and your daughter when you were on the run from your loving sisters?! How dare you even try to defend her or try to even think that little bitch, Hermione, could possibly be an unwitting pawn. She is a devil, that one... I should have known what sort of person she was when I heard Ron first complain about her during their first year."
Damn... I need to calm him before I can act, Andromeda thinks as she raises her hands in front of her. "I apologise, Arthur. These past few weeks have been rough on all of us." She sighs as she sits down on the sofa. "What with Ted disappearing and now the whole debacle with Hermione... I feel as if the whole world is coming down around me."
The wizard stops his pacing and sits down beside her. "I know what you mean," he says as he puts an arm around her shoulder. "I should apologise, Andromeda, not you. I forget that this has all been hard on you too. We have all lost someone in this damned war."
Andromeda drops her head into her hands and prays to whatever god may be listening that the next part of her act sounds real. "I just want things to go back to normal, Arthur!" She wails looking up from her hands she stares up at the red-haired man as tears drip down her face. "Is that too much to ask? I want everything back to the way it was before... no sides. No evil. Just everything the way it should be."
The wizard wraps his arm around her and pulls her to his chest. Running a hand through her chestnut brown hair he murmurs, "I know Andy, I know. Hopefully, Harry will find a way to defeat him and his ilk and then things will go back to normal."
As the two sit in silence, Andromeda contemplates how she can find a way to get this wizard back to her master without killing the man. Suddenly, a green light flashes in the fireplace and Nymphadora walks back out of the hearth. A relieved smile etches onto her face as she makes eye-contact with her mother. "Mum... I was so worried!" She says as she kneels down and grasps her mother's hands. We were all worried that something happened. Aunt Bella sent me to come after you, Dora conveys to the older witch through legilimency. "I just heard the terrible news from the Auror office and had hoped you and everyone else was allright."
Arthur looks at the younger woman with worry. "What news, Dora? What's happened?"
"It's terrible..." She begins as she bites her lower lip. "Hogwarts has burned to the ground."
"What?!" Arthur and Andromeda exclaim in unison.
"It happened early this morning. By the time the Aurors arrived, the whole castle was burned to the ground. The only survivor of the onslaught was Minerva."
"Why was Minerva there?" the wizard questions as he stands up quickly and begins pacing the room.
"I'm not sure..." Tonks says as she stands up from her kneeling position. "The office quickly pushed me out of this whole matter, but I was able to overhear what they think happened. Pius's people are saying that Minerva torched the whole place to try to overthrow some of the new Minister's mandates. They tested her wand and all... it is irrefutable... the damage was done by her wand."
Arthur continues to pace as he wrings his hands. "She was here... she was under the protection of your house, why did she leave, Andy?" He turns with a frown back to the two women. "I thought you said you had returned from checking on Dora when I had first arrived? How is it that you did not know of this information? Why did you wait until Tonks came to have her tell me this? Where is my family?" He stalks over to the older witch and makes to grab at her robes. "Where are they?"
"Calm down, Arthur..." Nymphadora says as she reaches out to grab the man's shoulder. "Mum did come to see me. As soon as she left, I received a Patronus to head to Hogwarts. As soon as I heard found out all of this, I made one quick stop then came straight here. There was no way my mum could know what happened. As for your family, I saw them at the new hideout, that was where I went before I came here, actually. I wanted to make sure everyone was okay before I brought mum over."
The wizard takes a deep breath and lowers his hands. "I am terribly sorry, Andy... I guess this whole thing is getting more than I should let it." He glances over at the younger woman, his voice a mere whisper. "Can I go see my family now? I have been so worried for them."
Tonks grins brightly as she wraps an arm around the older wizard's slumped shoulders. "Of course, Arthur! I was just about to suggest that we all take a trip to the new headquarters... I think everyone would be much safer there." The witch looks over her shoulder to glance at her mother. She grins again when she sees the older woman mouth a quick 'Thank you'. She winks a quick acknowledgment and turns back towards the fireplace. "Yes... I think we will all be much better off if we head to the safe house now. I know your family has been waiting for you for a few days now, Arthur."