AN: Happy Holidays to everyone. It's been way too long since I've posted for this story, but I finally found some time and inspiration to keep going and get the next chapter out. We're closing in on the end of this story, which thankfully is something I've thought about so hopefully I can make some good progress on finishing it up. Hope everyone is well and let me know what you think!
Chapter 17
The entrance to the tent flapped open with force as Rebecca marched in, her face set in a defiant and angry manner that did little to hide the pain in her eyes.
Jason, Alicia, Isabelle, and Daphne looked at the girl with pity, though all of them were thinking that it was nice to see a little fight return to her eyes rather than the abject misery and defeat that had been there for the past few days.
"I need you to start training me again," she demanded, "and I want to be trained harder than you've ever trained me before."
"For what purpose?" Jason asked, though he knew.
They all knew, but she needed to say it out loud.
"You know why!" she bit back, and Isabelle tutted disapprovingly.
"Hey firecracker, you want our help," Isabelle said sternly, "and that means you should try and not bite our heads off. Jace is trying to get you to say your goal out loud. He wants to test your resolve."
Rebecca took a deep breath, but they could see it did little to control the rage.
"I want to kill Regulus," she spat, her face contorted. "I want to kill the bastard that killed my dad. I want you to train me to kill him."
"What makes you think that any of us have any interest in training you specifically with the intent of killing someone?" Alicia asked, taking a sip of her tea.
"What's stopping you now?" she shot back. "You've been teaching me how to kill this whole time."
"If that's what you think we've been doing, then you haven't learned anything from us," Alicia responded with a frown.
"It comes down to the same thing doesn't it?" Rebecca retorted. "You were teaching me really advanced magic and how to duel better and that makes it easier for me to kill."
"If I didn't know you weren't thinking clearly, I would have demanded you leave just now," Jason said calmly, "and I definitely would never teach you anything again. That's for sure."
Alicia and Isabelle nodded in agreement.
"Have we taught you any transfigurations or charms simply designed to kill others?" Alicia asked.
Rebecca frowned. "No."
"That's right, and we never intended to do so. Sure, as you understood the theory, it became much more possible for you to think of how to alter spells to make them lethal and to figure out how we altered spells to make them lethal, but we did not teach you any of our lethal transfigurations or charms, and we know plenty of them" Jason replied. "Sure, some of the advanced defensive magic we taught you could certainly be lethal or is, but certainly not all of it, and even the ones that could be, most don't have to be, and we didn't even really start teaching you to duel till you insisted on accompanying us on missions. Why did we teach you to duel then?"
"Because you wanted me to survive encounters with any dark witches or wizards," Rebecca responded, starting to look a little defeated.
"Correct," Isabelle responded. "You said you wanted to be an auror when this all ends. How many dark witches and wizards do you think Harry has killed since he became an auror? Not including since he came here of course."
"I don't know . . . " Rebecca said in a hollow tone.
"That would be none," Jason responded flatly and Rebecca flinched slightly at that. "He's certainly not opposed to it, but it's an auror's absolute last resort, and that's why he's one of the best. We never wanted to teach you to become an assassin. Could we? Sure. Alicia and I have basically been glorified assassins at times, but that isn't what we wanted for you. If we did, we would have taught you everything you needed to know to help us when we infiltrated Azkaban which was just us killing everything that moved."
Rebecca slumped to the ground. "I need to get my vengeance . . . surely you understand that?" she pleaded.
"Of course we do," Jason said, nodding with a glint in his eye. "In my fifth year, I was determined to find and kill Bellatrix Lestrange, and when the time came, I certainly did try."
"And I'm the one who did end up killing her, at the end of the war when I could have probably captured her instead," Isabelle said plainly. "I don't regret it at all, and I will even admit it felt good."
"So why won't you help me?" Rebecca asked.
"Because you want to kill Regulus now in revenge, but what about the next person that wrongs you or someone you know? Do you just kill the people that physically harm you or your family, or what about mental and emotional damage? Where does it stop?" Isabelle said.
"All of us have been far too close to crossing that line where killing just becomes easier and easier to do . . . where it starts becoming the first choice for a retaliation and not that last," Alicia said, hollowly. "Coming here has not helped that. We don't want you to end up in the same predicament. We get by because our skills are highly sought after, but people talk, and in this world after Riddle's reign of terror has ended, it'll be even worse than it is for us. Even though we haven't killed nearly as many people since the end of our war, between those we did kill and those we had killed since then, people consider us too bloodthirsty. They're wary around us. Others think they can hire us just to kill people because we're soulless psychopaths. Some want to watch us because they're waiting for the day that we decide to go dark. People see Ginny and Harry walking down the street and they swarm them as fans. They want to meet them. They're role models. That's not true for us. We're respected, sure, but also feared."
"We're not asking you to forgive Regulus, but none of us are going to teach you when you come in so bloodthirsty and hot headed and demand we turn you into a coldblooded killer," Jason said with a shake of his head. "You'll either end up dead that way, or you'll end up becoming that which you hate . . . neither of which are we prepared to see. This world doesn't need another killer . . . frankly it doesn't need someone like Alicia and I. It needs someone like Harry. I'd say that's obvious since the Order's magic pulled him here, and not Izzy, Alicia, or I."
". . . Alright," Rebecca said, looking a bit more calm as she pondered her request. "What . . . what do I need to do to be ready to defeat Regulus in a duel? Can you teach me to do that?"
"I don't think so, at least not with the time you have now," Jason replied, looking sorry. "Regulus is good . . . very, very good, and no matter how hard you train, you will not get to his level within the next month."
"How much time do I need?" Rebecca asked. "I mean, you took on Riddle, Crouch, and Regulus at the same time and won! Surely you can help me get to his level?"
"Becca, I had to use a pretty much forbidden ritual to pull that off, and I mostly succeeded because they didn't know what to expect from me and thus underestimated me. Sure, since I actually completed the Time Displacement Ritual, I could have decimated all three of them, but the cost would have been high. Trust me, that fight would have gone a lot different if they'd assumed I was Riddle's equal or better. Your dad was no pushover as a duelist . . . he was very good, certainly able to keep up with someone like Riddle for a bit and Regulus seemed to be his equal. I dueled nearly daily for five years before I was ready to face Bellatrix, who I would say is about Regulus's skill level, one of those years being under Dumbledore's tutelage," Jason told her.
"I just figured you two could help me get there," Rebecca said, sounding desperate. "I mean, you, Jace, took all three of them on and won! Alicia, you killed Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange together by yourself! Surely you can help me."
"You're certainly getting there," Alicia said with a sigh, "and you know more advanced magic that Jace did when he was at your level, but you still have a long way to go before you're ready for someone of Regulus's or Bellatrix's skill."
"I would estimate you'd probably need six to eight months of hard training before you'd be ready for Regulus, assuming you keep improving at the rate you have been," Isabelle said.
"But . . . but . . . I have to beat him," Rebecca begged, tears starting to flow down her cheeks. "I have to beat him . . . please, there has to be something you can do."
Jason, Alicia, and Isabelle exchanged looks while Daphne glanced at the three of them curiously.
"There's only one certain way I know of to get more time," Jason said quietly. "It might be possible, but it would be very, very dangerous, and it certainly comes at a cost."
"I'm willing," Rebecca said, in a pleading voice.
"It's not just dangerous to you," Daphne said sharply, figuring out what they were talking about. "it's extremely costly for them too, especially if you're trying to buy yourself six months' time in only a month and a half."
"Please . . ." Rebecca said with a sniff. "I have to get stronger . . . i have to be able to protect my family just as well as my dad did. I'll do whatever. I'll give you anything you want."
Jason, Alicia, Isabelle, and Daphne exchanged looks again. Daphne's eyes widened as she realized they were considering it.
"You three can't be serious," she hissed quietly at them, and all three gained wry grins.
"We always have been gluttons for punishment," Alicia said with a shake of her head.
"There's no guarantee we'll be able to do this," Jason said after a moment, seeing that his sister and wife were in agreement even if Daphne wasn't sold.
"I'm willing to take the chance and hope," Rebecca said, looking a bit hopeful.
"Alright, you'll know by tomorrow morning," Jason said finally. "You should get some rest."
Recognizing the dismissal, Rebecca nodded, still sniffling a bit, and left the tent.
"You're not seriously thinking about stealing some Time Turners!" Daphne protested, and seeing that none of them were replying she continued. "You can only find those at the Ministry . . . maybe! There's no guarantee that there even are any at the Ministry."
Jason chuckled ruefully. "That's true."
"Then why!?" Daphne demanded. "Gods knows I like that girl. She's got a fire in her that I respect, but that doesn't mean you need to do this for her."
"Part of it is because I know that she'll try to take on Regulus whether we help her or not," Jason said, "and I don't want her to die like her father. What I told her is true. This world could use somebody more like Harry, and perhaps she could be that. I'd hate to free this world only for it to fall apart."
Alicia nodded in agreement.
"I can sympathize with her goals," Isabelle said with a sigh. "She's very similar to what we were like. We had people that helped us get to where we are now . . . maybe I'd just like to fill that role for someone else."
Daphne just stared at them before she huffed, "How the hell do I even get along with you bloody Witchers? You're all mad! Completely and utterly mad!"
Isabelle, Jason, and Alicia all started laughing at that.
"Says the girl who followed me into an alternate dimension," Isabelle teased.
"Which I'm regretting!" Daphne complained. "I'm surrounded by idiots! Not even normal idiots. Witchers!"
Alicia snorted, shooting an amused look at Jason and he shook his head in exasperation.
"Please, you love us," Isabelle scoffed dismissively.
"Just go do your stupid thing and then come back," Daphne said with a shake of her head. "If you die on me in this stupid world, I will resurrect you so that I can kill you all myself."
"Noted, Daph," Jason said with a snort.
"If this works, we'll have a couple of time turner souvenirs to take back," Isabelle said with a grin. "Those could be very useful."
"Sure, they could be, but I'm more interested in studying them after this," Jason said. "Now that I used the Time Displacement Ritual, I'm much more interested in studying time manipulation."
"Pfft, why wouldn't you be interested in studying something that could kill you if it went wrong?" Alicia said with a shake of her head. "Daphne might be onto something, dear."
"Maybe I am an idiot, but I'm your idiot," Jason replied with a loving smile.
"Oh gods, that was terrible," Isabelle groaned with a look of disgust. "Licia, you're a saint for dealing with him, and I will reaffirm that there are no refunds. I'm not taking him back. He's stuck with you."
Alicia snorted at her sister-in-law and grinned. "He's not wrong though. He is my idiot. Wouldn't have him any other way."
"Alright, I'm done with both of you," Isabelle said with a disappointed look. "I'm going to go get my Shadow Robes. I'll see you two losers outside in five minutes. It's late enough that the Ministry should have started emptying out. Can't give you any longer or you'll start pawing at each other like you always do."
"Like you and Daphne are any better!" Alicia shot back as Isabelle and Daphne walked out of the tent, and then she turned to Jason. "I kind of want to fool around and make her wait just to spite her now."
Jason chuckled. "You'll never hear complaints from me."
Alicia rolled her eyes and then summoned Jason's and her Shadow Robes and both of their blades. She waved her hand sending Jason's blade and robes to him, while she started putting on her own Shadow Robes.
"We're going to have to get new sets of these when we get back," Alicia muttered, noticing the cut in the cloth from where she'd taken a cutting curse to the arm. "This set has seen better days, and we already ruined another set. I've only got one more."
"I say we finally try to figure out how to make them," Jason responded, nodding in agreement. "Maybe we take that trip to Japan, like we've been wanting to do and take some time off just to have fun learning something new."
"Like magical tailoring, and creating enchanted clothing," Alicia finished. "Hmm, that does sound nice, and that would be something new . . . though I suspect it will be a lot harder to learn than you think it will be."
Jason chuckled. "Probably, but it will still be fun. Plus, the food would be great."
"Well, we'll talk about that after we kill Tommy and his motley crew of morons," Alicia said, her voice distorted as her hood now shielded her face.
Jason chuckled as they walked out of the tent and found Isabelle already waiting for them, wearing her own Shadow Robes.
"So, I assume we're not telling Harry, Ginny, or any of the others that we're doing this, right?" Isabelle asked, and Jason and Alicia both shook their heads.
"They will not be happy with us," Jason said.
"No, I suspect we wouldn't be," a voice sounded, and all three turned to see Harry pulling his invisibility cloak off of himself and Ginny.
"Damn," all three Witchers muttered and lowered their hoods.
"I can only assume by your attire that you're heading into enemy territory, and I can hazard several guesses based on what Rebecca likely wants," Harry said with a frown. "My best guess is that you're either going to attempt to kill Regulus for her, so that she doesn't get killed trying to do it herself or you're going to go see if you can get her time to train so she can do it herself."
"You know us well," Isabelle said, sounding a bit impressed. "We're not going to kill Regulus, but we were going to infiltrate the ministry and steal some time turners . . . if possible."
Harry sighed. "It's risky and frankly unnecessary. I understand her grief, but taking a risk like this just so that she might have a chance at getting revenge seems counterproductive. However . . . I'm not going to stop you"
Alicia, Isabelle, and Jason all exchanged surprised glances.
"You aren't?" Alicia said.
"No," Harry said with a grimace. "I'm going to trust you to either succeed or know when to cut your losses and you'll have to live with the cost if something should go wrong."
With that Harry turned and walked towards Potter Cottage. Ginny gave them a look that said good luck and then she turned and followed her husband.
"Huh, now I feel a bit bad," Isabelle admitted.
"Yeah, Harry just hit us with the 'I'm not mad, just disappointed,' method and damn, it works," Jason said with a grimace.
"I mean, we're still going to do it, so it didn't completely work," Alicia said, though Jason could tell she felt a bit bad as well.
"True, but still," Isabelle said, pulling her hood back over her head.
Jason and Alicia copied her. Then all three applied invisibility charms to themselves before they disapparated, appearing in an alleyway not far from the guest entrance to the Ministry. The alleyway they used to use to survey the Ministry when they'd been attempting to break in during their own Horcrux hunt.
"I figure the best place to try and sneak in is through the courtrooms," Isabelle said.
"It's also the detention level though," Jason pointed out. "There's probably dementors, and maybe even security trolls on that level."
"Maybe, but it's only accessible by stairs," Alicia rebutted. "We should be able to take care of whoever is down there without alerting the rest of the Ministry. If we just happen to liberate some prisoners, the more the better."
"Fair point," Jason conceded. "Let's get in there then."
They quickly shadow traveled, appearing near the stairway entrance of Level 10 that would take them up to Level 9. Immediately they felt the chill that could only be associated with one creature, and looking down the hallway towards the courtrooms and temporary detention area. In front of the holding cells at the end of the corridor they could see five security trolls standing guard.
'Destructo Patronum!' Jason thought and his black destructive phoenix patronus flew from his wand, followed by his sister and wife's phoenix and falcon.
The dementors screamed as the three patroni ripped into them, destroying them. The three Witchers rushed forward past the dying dementors, doing their best to take a partial count of the amount and all three started unleashing destructive curses onto the five security trolls which were unable to weather the assault and fell.
Jason continued to move forward while Alicia and Isabelle started searching the courtrooms, determined to kill all the dementors and subdue anyone who might have been around to report their exploits. He reached the holding cells and was both saddened, but also pleased to find the five cells full with nearly thirty people. He regretted them being there, but at least they could do something about it. He quickly sent a patronus to his mother so that the Order could be ready to treat the prisoners.
He glanced back to see Isabelle and Alicai coming towards him.
"There were another fifty dementors in the various courtrooms, so I think we've wiped out all hundred that were reported to have been in the Ministry," Isabelle said.
"Good," Jason said, and then he gestured towards the prisoners, who all looked to be in bad condition, likely due to the continued presence of the dementors. "I just sent a patronus to mum. I was just about to have Apollo and Artemis start taking these people out of here."
Alicia went and covered the stairs while Isabelle and Jason oversaw the transportation of the thirty prisoners. Once they were done, the three Witchers moved to the stairs and cautiously moved up to the Level 9: The Department of Mysteries.
Thankfully, like he remembered, and as it likely should be at this time of the evening, Level 9 seemed empty. Jason hadn't been here since he'd come with Harry and their friends in their fifth year. That was not a night he fondly remembered. Now it was just him, his wife, and his sister.
They crept down the hallway, and went through the door that took them into the Room of Doors. As much as they wanted to leave the door open, they couldn't afford for someone to come down and set off an alarm when they saw the door open. Instead, they quickly copied Hermione and used the flagrate curse and put an x on the door before they shut it, which immediately caused the room to spin and attempt to confuse them.
Isabelle, Alicia, and Jason each picked a door and opened it, or attempted to open it in Isabelle's case. Knowing that Isabelle's room was likely the locked room they couldn't get into before, she quickly marked the door. Jason looked into his doorway and grimaced, recognizing the chamber he'd dueled Bellatrix with the ominous arch. He quickly marked the door and moved on to the next door, leaving his door open so that they could close all the doors in one go. Alicia glanced at him and shook her head.
"It's that space room," she called over, and Jason nodded.
"I got the room with the arch," he told her.
Isabelle had already moved on to another door and opened it. She sighed. "Brain room," she called out and marked the door.
"Bloody hell, it's going to take us the exact same amount of attempts to find the correct room," Jason muttered as he opened his next door and grinned. "The Time Chamber!" he called out. He marked it with a circle and then they shut all the doors, letting the room reset.
Once the room was reset, they removed all of their flaming 'Xs' and moved over to the correct room, opening the door and removing the marking. They crept into the room, wands at the ready, taking it in, and all grinned to themselves when they saw a cabinet that had exactly what they were looking for.
"I'm telling you, I heard someone," a voice said, and the three Witchers charmed themselves invisible quickly, spreading out in the room.
"It's probably just the last of your department heading home, sir," a voice responded with a hint of exasperation, and Jason watched as Augustus Rookwood and four men, wearing the trappings of the Death Eaters, came in through the door that Jason knew led to the Hall of Prophecy. "It's late, and we really need to get you home."
Focusing on Rookwood, Jason leveled his wand, knowing that his sister was to his right and his wife on the left. He launched a cutting curse which Rookwood impressively managed to block, a feat which two of his guards were unable to match as one was hit with a bolt of fire that quickly engulfed him and the other was hit with a heart explosion curse. Jason quickly launched a volley of curses and Rookwood, knowing he was the threat and that Alicia and Isabelle would take care of the other guards, another of which had already fallen to a lightning bolt.
Rookwood started returning curses and Jason was rather surprised at the effort Rookwood was putting forth. He didn't remember Rookwood being this skilled in their world, but perhaps all the time not in Azkaban had led to this. Jason continued his volley, just deciding to batter Rookwood down as Alicia and Isabelle killed the last guard. Jason launched three successive blasting curses, fully charged, which Rookwood just barely managed to shield himself from when Alicia and Isabelle both launched lightning bolts into Rookwood who screamed in pain before he twitched and collapsed to the floor dead.
"Grab the whole lot," Jason said and Isabelle ran over and started grabbing all the Time Turners, stuffing them into a pocket in her robes that had an undetectable extension charm.
"Done," Isabelle said and Jason nodded.
"Let's get out of here," Alicia said, and the three of them shadow traveled back to the alleyway they entered from and then disapparated back to the Potter's home.
"If we're really going to go through this for Becca, then we need to do some preparation," Jason said with a sigh, and the two girls nodded, both knowing that what they were about to do would certainly take a lot of effort.
**HP**
"I love those three, but sometimes they're just too determined to do what they want to do, regardless of anyone else," Harry muttered, and Ginny rubbed his back comfortingly, "and I've got bigger problems right now."
"They generally mean well, but they can be very independent," Ginny agreed. "We all are, especially now that we all have our own lives. We're not the same kids we were when we last were in this war."
Harry chuckled. "We could barely control them even back then."
Ginny laughed. "I think many people, including them, thought that about you sometimes."
Harry smirked, before he sighed. "We should go see if mum's managed to get dad moving today and then we should go check on Marlene."
"And Dora," Ginny said softly.
The two of them were trying to help provide what help they could to the grieving members of their alternate dimensional family. James, unsurprisingly, was not handling Sirius's death very well, and Lily was trying to comfort him, while grieving Sirius herself and trying to help Marlene and Remus. It was obvious she was barely holding on herself, and Harry and Ginny were trying to pick up the slack so that she could mourn the man who'd been almost as much of a brother to her as he had been to James.
Marlene was doing her best to cope with the loss of her husband while trying to take care of her two teenage children, both of whom seemed hell bent to take after the Sirius that Harry knew early in his world. Both were recklessly angry and just wanted to get out and find the revenge they thought would help them. Thankfully, Maddy had Gabby to watch out for her, so they knew she was unlikely to get in too much trouble. Now, Becca had the Witchers keeping her under control, so Harry and Ginny could start doing their best to truly allow Marlene the time to grieve for herself.
Remus was mourning his friend while Dora was mourning the loss of both of her parents. Honestly, Harry hoped their grief might have turned them to each other, but so far, Remus was staying his stubborn self, trying to mourn on his own, leaving Dora alone and filled with sorrow.
Harry and Ginny walked into the Potter Cottage, and saw Lily in the kitchen, making dinner.
"Anything we can do to help?" Ginny asked, as the two younger Potters went into the kitchen.
"No, I've got a hang of this, dears," Lily replied, her eyes showing exhaustion and sadness. "I've made enough for us, Marls and the girls, Remus, and Dora. I could use some help delivering it all."
"Of course," Harry said with a nod. "Where's James?"
"He and Remus are both upstairs," Lily said with a sigh. "I think they've already emptied two bottles of firewhiskey, so if one of you could get two sobering potions and hangover potions, that would be helpful."
"I'll take care of it," Ginny said. "I believe we used the last of those potions so I'll go brew some. It'll only take fifteen minutes or so."
"Thank you, dear," Lily said gratefully.
"Mum, why don't you let me take over the rest of the cooking," Harry said softly when Ginny departed. "Like you said, you're almost done. I can watch the stew and then load it up in bowls for everybody."
"Really, Harry, it's fine," Lily said and Harry shook his head.
"No, it's not," he responded. "I know Sirius's death isn't much easier for you than it is for dad or Remus. He's been a huge part of your life almost as long as my dad has. You need to let Gin and I do more, and just mourn, even if it means downing a bottle of firewhiskey with Remus and dad. Maybe you can get those two to tell some stories and start the process of healing rather than just drowning their sorrows. Or go over and cry with Marlene. I know she'd appreciate it. Jace, Izzy, and 'Licia will watch out for Becca, and Gin, Gabby, and I are keeping an eye on Maddy, so you two should be able to take some time for yourselves."
Harry saw tears forming in Lily's eyes, and he stepped forward, opening his arms and she started sobbing as she embraced him.
"I really miss him," she mumbled with a sniffle. "H-he was al-always there for me, esp-especially when my Harry . . ."
"I know," Harry replied quietly. "He was the best damn godfather and one of the best friends anybody could ask for."
Lily started crying harder, her body shaking. Harry surreptitiously used wandless magic to take over the cooking, doing his best to monitor the meal while Lily cried. It wasn't until Ginny came back in that he realized how long they'd been standing there."
"Go over to Marlene's," Harry said as Lily pulled back, realizing the food was ready. "We'll bring the meal over, and Ginny and I will take care of Remus, dad, Maddy, and Becca. Okay?"
Lily nodded slowly with another sniffle. "Th-thank you."
"Of course," Ginny said, approaching and pulling Lily into a hug that the older woman gratefully accepted.
Finally, Lily moved towards the fireplace and flooed away, leaving Harry and Ginny with the food that they were already putting in various conjured bowls to be dished out. Knowing it was easiest just to start with Remus and James, they made their way up the stairs to where the master and spare bedrooms were.
They entered the master bedroom to see James and Remus both piss drunk, seated on the floor, each of them with a bottle of firewhiskey in their hands, another two empty bottles on the floor. Harry and Ginny both frowned and Harry moved over to James while Ginny took Remus.
"Alright, dad, drink this," Harry said, offering up the sobering potion.
"Nooo," James slurred. "I don't want it."
"You need it," Harry said firmly. "Drink it, eat some food, and then head over to Marlene's place. I know she would really like to see you."
"Marls," James slurred, looking sad. "I'm pathetic . . . I-I-I sh-should be there for her," he said in disgust, "b-but I can-can't be in her place wi-without him."
Harry nodded slowly. "Maybe we can talk her into coming here. I'm sure she'd like that."
"Ma-maybe," James said, finally taking the sobering potion, which finally started to take effect a few minutes later.
Harry was just offering up the hangover potion when the door to the bedroom slammed open. Harry and Ginny both spun around with James and Remus trying to act, but both being hindered by the alcohol, and saw Harry's Sirius standing in the doorway with a snarl on his face.
"You two bastards need to get your shit together before I curse you into eternity," Sirius growled out, pointing his finger at James and Remus, both of whom paled at seeing Sirius.
Sirius leveled his glare on Remus. "Get your head out of your arse and go help Dora! She desperately needs help, and you're too busy being a jackass to help her and help yourself! So help me gods, Remus, if you don't get your act together and stop being a fucking coward, I'm going to go back to my world just to grab my Remus and my Dora so the three of us can turn you inside out."
Then he glared at James.
"AND YOU! Marlene and Lils desperately need you to at least be capable of caring for yourself so that they can mourn my counterpart's loss, but you're too busy drinking yourself to death to help either of them. I can tell you that if your Sirius was anything like me, and I know he was, he'd be beating the absolute hell out of you both for acting like this! James was there for me in my world when I lost my Marlene, so you better be there for her now she's lost me! Both of you better eat those meals Harry and Ginny finished making for LILY and get your asses over to help the women you love. This bullshit ends NOW!"
Not even waiting for a response, Sirius turned around and left the room, slamming the door shut behind him, leaving a stunned group. Harry and Ginny cautiously looked at James and Remus who had faces that showed a mixture of bewilderment, shame, anger, sadness, and yet also a hint of amusement.
"It seems Sirius is Sirius no matter which universe he's from," Remus said hoarsely and James nodded.
"He's right though," James said. "You do need to go see Dora. This has gone on long enough, and it's time for you to stop running from it, just like I need to be there for Marlene and my wife. Hand me that hangover potion, will you, Harry?"
Harry handed the potion over, while Ginny did the same for Remus, and both of them were happy to see some determination in both men's eyes. They were at least on the path to start healing.
**HP**
"Alright, you three, you're going to have to work harder than you've ever worked, and we're going to demand every ounce of effort out of you if we're going to make this work," Jason said, and Becca, Gabby, and Maddy nodded seriously.
It was the next day, and Jason, Alicia, and Isabelle had spent the morning preparing creating a new underground training bunker specifically for the girls. They'd then gone over to talk to Marlene specifically about what they were going to do with Rebecca, and despite her dislike of it, she knew it was the best chance of her daughter surviving and she'd asked if they could include Madelyn, since Marlene was only too worried about what both of her daughters would do when the entire Order was in the last major battles of this war.
While Jason and Alicia had been hesitant to add Madelyn, they couldn't really say no to Marlene's sad, but pleading expression, which had then evolved to them talking to Fleur and Bill, who also didn't like the training plan, but agreed that they wanted Gabby to participate, if she wanted to. A quick talk with the girls had shown that both girls had been ready to demand to be apart of whatever training the Witchers had planned for Rebecca, so the three Witchers had had to return to their new facility, adapt it to fit three girls and then finally called them over, late in the evening.
Jason pulled out one Time Turner. "Do you know what this is?"
All three of the girls shook their no.
"This is a Time Turner," Jason explained. "It will allow you to go back in time and relive up to one day or 24 hours."
All three girls gaped at the small hourglass necklace in shock and awe.
"This is how we're going to give you enough training in just over a month," Alicia said. "I will warn you. This regime we've set up is extremely time intensive, and it will wear down on all of us in it. In addition, this is very dangerous, so you will follow our instructions to the letter. It is generally inadvisable to go back much more than five or six hours, due to the risk of causing issues with time, so again, this is very dangerous and you will not argue or do anything rash while with us, or we will not only contain you until we deem safe, but we'll stop training you."
"The United American Resistances are set to invade Europe in one month. We plan to hit Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Riddle's two QRFs and the slave auction that is set to happen two weeks after that," Isabelle explained. "The plan is for you all to relive each day a total of eight times, with the eighth day being a day of rest and for you to see your families. This will add up to you all getting over eight months of training with us. With how hard we're going to drive you all, it should be enough training to get you all to the levels that you can go toe to toe with most opponents. As we go and at the end, we'll all give you honest assessments of your abilities to help give you an idea of opponents you should avoid or seek help with. Now that you know a bit of what the plan is, do any of you wish to back out."
Jason, Alicia, and Isabelle were honestly a bit disappointed, even if they were also proud, to see that none of the three girls even blinked, all feeling ready for whatever the Witchers threw at them.
"Alright, then," Jason said. "We've designed this facility in the shape of an octagon. Each day, we'll move to a different room in order for our past selves to take up the old room, offsetting times in the passages so that there will be no chance of running into our past selves. On the eighth day, we'll let time resume and we'll restock for the next time-condensed week. Over a 24-hour period, you're going to spend one hour exercising with us, simply to improve your current fitness level. We'll spend two hours each on Transfiguration, Charms, Defense, dueling, and the Mind Arts."
"That's only eleven hours each day," Becca said. "Can't we do more."
"We could, but you'll get burnt out," Alicia said. "There's a chance you all burn out as is. Rest and relaxation is going to be key to you keeping the pace we need to keep in order to actually succeed in this endeavor, which is why all of your meal breaks will be full hours, so you can relax, talk and enjoy your meals. Likewise, sleep will be important and in order to make sure that you get that sleep, you'll spend the last two hours of each night relaxing, reading a book for pleasure or doing as you please, within your quarters before you go to sleep."
"We're ready for this," Maddy said fiercely.
"You're saying that now, but I assure you, we're going to push you for everything you've got," Isabelle warned her. "There's three of you and three of us, so each day, you'll be paired with one of us for that day, allowing for you all to proceed at your own pace, and we'll rotate each day which of us you get."
"Here are your timetables," Jason said, handing out sheets with schedules for the girls, showing them exactly when lessons would happen, when they would have breaks, and most importantly, when they exactly would use their Time Turners, "and here are your Time Turners," Jason said. "Do not do anything with these that we do not direct you to do," he said sternly.
The three Witchers gave the girls time to look at their schedules and Time Turners, and to think about exactly what they were getting themselves into.
"Are there any questions? No? Well then, get some rest. We start bright and early tomorrow."