Ch 18 Teddy's Children
Teddy, Ann and Orwant went to the area of the island where the children, and their caregivers were. They were met by a growing number of Magi, mostly witches, who specialized in what might be called Family Law, or who took care of injured or traumatized children. As they were looking at this group of people Teddy spotted a woman he knew.
"Hello, Josefina," Teddy said, spotting a child on her hip, his oldest daughter carrying his son.
"Edwardo Wolfman?" she wondered. The woman came over looking to them relieved and determined. "I thought you were dead. They found your severed leg. What is going on?"
"Jezebel has been defeated, by my wife's cousin Albus Potter and his soulmate Cleopatra. She has Jezebel's wand. They and hundreds of Aurors and others are taking over the island."
"You escaped! You owe me! Take me off this cursed island, along with, our daughter Rosario. I am nursing your son, Javier, and watching your oldest Juana. I don't know where their mother Veronica is, but she is a mean and nasty witch and I hope she … she is mean, like her son."
Just then Caroline VanLente showed up, along with a couple additional witches.
"Hello, Teddy," Caroline started. "Who do we have here?"
"You know how perverted this island is, and what I had to do to survive here. I want to introduce you to Josefina, who I apparently impregnated shortly before I escaped. I thought she might be pregnant. I just met my daughter Rosario. I also impregnated the witch I had been living with, Veronica, the same time."
"Veronica is mean and nasty and, I've been nursing both babies since shortly after Javier was born because she was too busy with other things. I mean, I'm a No-Maj, but I have a magical child, and I've been taking care of Edwardo's and Veronica child, Juana," Josefina explained, pointing to each child in turn. The children looked frightened by the adults, and were watching them warily, except for Fernando, who was standing some distance away from the others and seemed to be leering at other children. "I have to watch Fernando, their half-brother, too, sometimes but he is as mean as his mother and I have to keep him from," Josefina started to cry. "I try to keep him away from the other children. He's only ten and he has been sexually abused and does it to little children and he is just a horrible person."
Josefina turned frantically to Teddy. "Get us off this cursed island, please. Take all of us! Please!"
Caroline briefly consulted with the two witches she was with. "We are having a very difficult time dealing with all these children, Teddy," Carolina observed. "It would really help us if you could take this woman and these children. We don't separate families, so you are going to have to take Fernando too, but he needs to be watched and more."
"How am I going to explain this to Victoire?" Teddy wondered out loud.
"I will come with you, and try and tell Victoire that you had to do this to stay alive on the island," Caroline told Teddy.
Orwant told Teddy, "We are going back to England. Cleo has gone back, and we need to see her tonight before, I don't know. I think there are weeks of work that need to be done in the next few days."
The group took the Closet and Floo networks back to England. They all ended up at the New Burrow.
Molly was sitting in the little area off the kitchen, knitting, when this crowd came through the Floo. "Hello Teddy," she started. "Hello Caroline, Orwant, Ann. The Potters are next door." She looked at the rest of the people, surprised. "Victoire is upstairs." She watched the whole group troop upstairs, while Ann and Orwant continued on to Potters New Burrow.
Teddy limped upstairs, his leg in agony. It had been a rough day in many ways. He turned to what was a conference room when they were working but was magically turned into a living room some evenings. Victoire was sitting in an overstuffed piece of furniture knitting, and she looked up, horrified at the state of Teddy's leg. Blood was seeping through his trouser leg.
A frantic Victoire looked at the children but then at Teddy's leg. Teddy had been wearing his artificial leg the whole day, ignoring the growing pain, but Caroline helped Teddy and Victoire take the leg off. The stump looked almost as bad as it did the end of the first day when Teddy was first injured.
After the leg was tended to with potions and spells, and after Victoire had gotten the older two children some milk and biscuits, which seemed to calm them down a little, Caroline told Victoire, "The hardest job my husband had was to send Aurors to that Island. Half did not come back, and the half that did were always wounded. Not always physical wounds either. The worse are the ones who come back so ashamed of what they had to do that they had mental breakdowns. There are too many people in mental wards. Several escaped, but then committed suicide.
"Jezebel Nukpana reigned for over a hundred years. She took over by stealing her great-grandmother's wand and then binding her great-grandmother naked on the altar of sacrifice, calling together the island, and having them watch as she cut out her great-grandmother's beating heart, replicating what she had seen her great-grandmother do hundreds if not thousands of times. We figure Jezebel Nukpana sacrificed over forty-thousand people in her over a hundred-year reign.
"Whatever Teddy did, he did for the most noble of reasons. We could not have won today without his maps.
"But, Victoire, the leg, the physical scars, aren't the worse of Teddy's wounds."
Teddy looked at Victoire and admitted, "I was going to tell you. I was going to ask if you still wanted me. Not because of the leg, the scars.
"Jezebel Nukpana tested anyone who was going to be living on the island." Teddy sat down so he was next to Victoire and whispered so only Victoire could hear, obviously still ashamed. "You had to take part in the orgies. You had to show your contempt for the rules of a civilized society. I took up with one of the nastiest witches on the island so I could leave without regret, but when I left, I had a daughter by her and another child on the way by her and another by another witch. I'm frankly a little surprised the children are all alive. Cleo's sister was killed as soon as Jezebel Nukpana was dead.
"That's not the worst thing I did either. The things you had to do to stay alive, to get the confidence of the rest of the people on the island, to do what I had to do. It was just awful!
"Victoire, I feel so dirty, so ashamed. I saw what I think may have been, either an undercover person or a naive wizard, once he was faced with, once he was ordered to, and didn't, and before Jezebel cut out his heart they had beaten and mutilated him almost beyond recognition. Death was a relief, I am sure.
"I have no idea where Veronica is. I think she came to England with Jezebel and is either captured or killed."
"I hope she is dead!" Josefina snarled. "She is nasty, mean, and doesn't deserve her children."
Victoire looked in horror at this remark, but Teddy nodded that he agreed.
Teddy looked at his oldest. "Juana, you are three now?" he asked. She nodded 'yes.' "Juana is the oldest, and her brother Javier are my children by Veronica. Fernando is their half-brother. The No-Maj with them is Josefina, and her baby Rosario is also mine. The babies were born in May."
"Is this your house?" Josefina asked, looking at what seemed to be a rather large structure. At least from what she could see coming in through the Floo, into the moderately imposing entrance hall, and up the grand staircase, it seemed to be rather large. There were stairs going up from the floor they were on as well. "How big is it?"
"The New Burrow has three floors, plus two half floors for Elves," Teddy replied. "Next door is almost a mirror image house, but it is only two floors plus an Elf floor. There is enough room."
"Don't send me back to that island, please!" Josefina pled. "It was almost as bad living on that island as it was the years before when I had to, I was, it was always men who wanted me and, Teddy was one of the few who, it wasn't exactly pleasant but with Teddy it wasn't like he just didn't care."
"He is a good man, Josefina," Caroline told her, looking at Victoire as well.
"EDWARD LUPIN," Victoire yelled when Teddy still continued to look guilty and disgusted at himself. "Do you remember what I said before you left to go undercover. Well, nothing, nothing, NOTHING has changed. Nothing can change your past, but it was your past before I married you. We just have more children to take care of."
Teddy cried, "I am so sorry and so ashamed, and, but the children need a good home and I just felt that I was obligated to these, Oh Victoire I'm so sorry."
"I'm still going to bear you a dozen children," Victoire insisted. "You don't get out of fathering children by me that easily. We are just going to have to raise a few more, that's all.
"Well, that's not all, I guess. Did you love those women?"
"Josefina is, should be, a good person," Teddy observed. "A good person but never in a good place. I like her, but I never loved her like I love you. I want all the best for her, but just as a friend. Well, I guess she has to be more than a friend since she is mother to my baby, but, I don't know.
"I thought that by living with Veronica I could more easily leave the island, but with a child by her and another one on the way, Victoire, I didn't know how to tell you because Jezebel had a habit of sometimes killing the children of people who escaped, torturing them and killing them. I'm surprised they are alive."
"What does grandmum know?" Victoire wondered.
"Just that this group of people came in through the Floo," Teddy replied.
"Well," Victoire huffed, "we had better get them bedrooms and beds, and introduce them."
Victoire summoned a wheelchair for Teddy. He took the elevator, but the rest walked downstairs and into the kitchen.
"Where is grandfather?" Victoire asked as they entered the kitchen.
"At the Ministry," Molly answered. "They have a large group of Jezebel's supporters that are captured, more or less, but not disarmed. I understand that he and several others are sleeping at the Ministry.
"Who do we have here?"
"I want to introduce you to Josefina," Teddy started. "She was captured, a prostitute but not by her own will. She was captured and I think they intended to sacrifice her, but she is pretty and several of the wizards wanted her as a toy, so she stayed alive but was abused. I got her pregnant shortly before I escaped, I understand."
"It is not his fault," Josefina interjected. "I wanted a child, because with a child you are abused less and I was less likely to be killed. I wanted Edwardo, Teddy? Is that your real? Everybody calls you Teddy, but your wife?"
"Legally I am Edward Lupin, but I've always been Teddy. Sometimes people call me Ted but I've never been Ed or Edward," Teddy explained.
"As a No-Maj I had to use condoms to keep from becoming pregnant, but I lied and told Teddy we didn't need to," Josefina explained. "It worked, and my life has been some better since taking care of the children, but it was still awful sometimes when a couple of the wizards decided that they wanted me. The worse was when a group of them did it, and then I needed to see the healers, but mostly it wasn't too bad."
"Who are the children?" Molly wondered, looking at the four.
"Rosario is mine by Josefina," Teddy responded, pointing to the little girl. "Javier is my son by Veronica," pointing to the other infant. "Juana is my daughter by Veronica, and Fernando is their half-brother."
"We had better get you rooms and beds, then," Molly observed, horrified at the casual way Josefina described being abused.
"I want to sleep with Juana," Fernando shouted out.
"NO," Juana cried. "He does bad things to you. Please, no!"
"Fernando gets his own room, and it needs to be locked from the outside," Josefina insisted. "He must never be unaccompanied! A responsible adult needs to be supervising him at all times. He abuses people and things."
Molly softly called, "Berry, Branch, please."
Silently a male and female Elf walked in.
"I need bedrooms next to Teddy and Victoire for Josefina, and," and she looked at Josefina.
"Juana Lupin, three, and the babies Javier and Rosario Lupin. I should sleep with them. We need a separate bedroom with a bed but nothing that can break for Fernando, and it needs to lock from the outside. Lock the windows as well."
"We understand," Branch replied. He looked at Fernando. "Not a Lupin?"
"He is Juana and Javier's half-brother, but he is not a Lupin," Josefina explained. "Mother is a bad person," she whispered to Branch, then louder. "Rosario is Teddy and my baby."
"Complicated," Berry observed.
"Very," Molly admitted, "but they came from the island of the Pirate Witch Queen, and they need a place to stay."
"Is Harry next door?" Teddy asked.
"I think Ginny and the children are, and I assume Harry is," Molly replied.
"I want to go next door and see him briefly before going to bed," Teddy told Victoire.
"We can take care of the children," Berry told Teddy. "Mrs. Molly and the Elves will take care of them."
Harry and Ginny were sitting at the kitchen table when Ann and Orwant Smith came through the Floo and sat down at the kitchen table. They both looked defeated.
"I thought Cleo and Al won?" Ginny said.
Orwant sniffed, "We started the day on the island where Jezebel Nukpana had twelve hostages stand on a platform with nooses around their necks, their hands and feet tied. Six were children and six were spouses or significant others of witches or wizards that were going to be coming with her. She announced that the platform was held up by magic, and if she died the platform would fall and all dozen would be killed.
"We were told that for about ten minutes the platform shook, and several of the people were almost choked to death, in real agony, before the platform finally collapsed killing everyone. Including our daughter Natasha.
"We started the day knowing that by the end of the day one of our daughters might be dead, and that we all might be dead.
"I'm just so sick of all the killing and dying."
Ginny was horrified. "Oh Ann, Orwant, having a child die must be horrible."
"I've had two infant sons sacrificed by Jezebel, may she rot in Hell forever," Ann sobbed. "Somebody had to kill her and stop this human sacrifice. I know up here," and Ann pointed to her head, "that it was worth the sacrifice but down here," pointing to her heart, "It feels just AWFUL."
"Does Cleo know?" asked Ginny.
Ann and Orwant looked at each other. "We do not know," Orwant admitted. "They rushed Cleo and Al away to help heal people."
Cindy and Henry Hudson were at Malfoy Manor. Harry wanted the correct story if there were any problems. Henry took a good series of photographs of Scorpius with the Sword of Gryffindor; this was big news indeed, that the Sword would come to someone in Slytherin, and from such a prominent pure blooded family that almost symbolized the divisions in the world. The Hudson's did their best to chronicle the happenings of the day in England.
Cindy and Henry were at St. Mungo's when Al, Cleo and the rest showed up, and Cindy started writing a story about Al and how he seemed to be able to help heal people by calling help from beyond the grave. Because it seemed very important Al and Cleo shared their memories of Salazar Slytherin talking to Scorpius and to them, and Cindy promised to feature Salazar Slytherin's message.
By the time Harry brought Albus and Cleopatra home everything at the Ministry had calmed down. The sixty were going to be kept until the next day at least, until they could decide what to do with them. Ron and Hermione were going to sleep in Hermione's office in the ministry, fully clothed and ready at any moment to get up and help.
Al and Cleo finally were free to go to Potters' New Burrow. They came through the Floo, exhausted.
"We're free, Cleopatra! Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty we're free at last!" Orwant proclaimed.
The Smiths looked at Cleo, and slowly approached her. There had not been time to meet, to talk, once the battle had started.
Cleo stood there. "Mum, dad?" she muttered. Ann looked like Cleo's mother, not quite as busty and her hips were not quite as wide, but she had the same exaggerated hour-glass figure. Her hair was black, not near as curly as Cleopatra's. She was dark, but not as dark as Cleo. Orwant was considerably darker, with tightly curled long hair, and a big white toothy smile.
Cleo looked at her parents, and grabbed onto Al's hand. She looked at Al and then looked back at her parents. "I'm pregnant," she said with a huge smile on her face as if it was the best news in the world. "I'm going to have a baby. Al and I. Albus Severus Potter and I are going to get married. And … and … and … I killed, Al and I killed … Jezebel Nukpana …great grandmother, and I have her wand and it is MY wand now and," Cleo looked at Albus again, kissed him, looked back and said, "Do I really have parents again? MOM! DAD! YOU'RE BACK!" and she ran into her mother's arm and started to cry. Orwant put his arms around his wife and oldest daughter.
Finally, after much crying and hugging, everybody pulled apart. Cleo looked at Al and sniffed, "I'm hungry," in a small voice. "We haven't eaten since breakfast." Ginny called for Mitzi and Mabel and together the Elves put some food on the table. Cleo and Al sat down hard, like they were exhausted, which of course they were.
Orwant told his daughter, "You're going to be seventeen Christmas, Cleo. Your sister would have been eleven this summer."
"What do you mean, 'would have been?'" Cleo asked.
"Jezebel had twelve hostages in nooses on a platform that would fall down if she died," Orwant explained. "If anyone had killed her the hostages would have died, and I think even if she had been captured or defeated in any way the hostages would have died. She killed tens of thousands of people in her lifetime.
"It's just that one of the twelve was your sister Natasha."
"When we killed Great-Grandmother we killed my SISTER?" Cleo cried.
Orwant explained, "The only way those hostages would be alive is if you and many other people had died. We knew when we left that it was probably the last time we would see Natasha alive. What could we do? Jezebel was just a horrible, wicked person, and she had to die. It's just so HARD!" Orwant held Cleo and Ann close. Eventually Albus joined the hugging and crying.
Just at this time four faces appeared at the door of the kitchen, James Potter and Erica, holding hands, Hugo Weasley, the three dressed like they had hastily put on some clothes, and Lily Luna barefoot and wearing a skimpy nightgown, a robe trailing behind her.
"Put on your robe, Lily," Ginny snapped. Lily looked like she was going to start an argument, but James sternly looked at her and Lily put on her robe.
"We heard the commotion," James explained. "Minerva is sleeping, and so is Ivana."
"Come on in," said Harry. "These are Cleo's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Smith." Looking at Ann and Orwant Harry explained, "The youngsters are James Potter and his fiancée Erica, Lily Potter, and Hugo Granger-Weasley." Looking back at the four he said, "You can stay as long as you are quiet. No questions until everybody else is through or you go right back upstairs."
Just about this time there was a knock on the door, and Victoire came in pushing Teddy in a wheelchair. "Ann, Orwant!" Teddy exclaimed. "I want to introduce you to my wife Victoire."
"Teddy Lupin?" asked Orwant. "I heard that was your real name after you escaped." Looking at the others in the room Orwant told the others, "Teddy was not the name he used when he was under cover. Very dangerous job crossing Jezebel Nukpana. Many more people died than escaped."
Teddy explained, "I just wanted Harry and the rest to know that you are really good people, Ann, Orwant, just the best. I could and did trust them with my life. Victoire, they saved my life more than once. They are the reason I escaped with as little damage as I have."
"TEDDY!" yelled Victoire. "You almost died. I almost died trying to save you. Look at that mangled stump of a leg. Look at your scars! Little damage!"
"You have no idea," Orwant insisted, shaking his head. "You have no idea how damaged some of the people who have escaped are. There are good people who are going to need care for the rest of their lives among the witches and wizards and Muggles at the island and who have escaped. As hard as it may be to believe, Teddy is lucky."
Victoire muttered, "I've just heard some of what Teddy had to do to survive on the island. And he brought back three of his children, plus a half sibling, to prove it.
"DAMN."
Cleo protested, "One of the people who died for this victory was my little sister Natasha, Victoire. You have Teddy back!"
"Oh Cleo!" Victoire cried, going over to her. The two women hugged and cried.
Cleo went and waved first one wand, then the other, over Teddy and Victoire. She kissed them both. Then she said, "I'm going to make some new scents for you two. Victoire, Teddy has never loved anyone but you. Teddy, you need to accept Victoire's love and forgiveness, and all of our forgiveness.
"WE WON today, and we would not have won without your sacrifice, Teddy." Cleo looked at her parents again, and sobbed, "And my sister, Oh Merlin my poor sister." Cleo burst into tears again.
Cleo and Victoire looked at each other, and went back into each other's arms. They were both crying, and Cleo repeated, "Teddy never loved anyone but you, Victoire. I can tell that whatever he did, he had to do, on the island he did, in the end, out of love. He had to do those things to stay alive and come back for you. He needs your love and forgiveness."
Victoire cried, "Thank you, Cleo. Keep reminding me. And it is so sad, so terrible about your sister! Oh Cleo!"
Teddy shook his head like he was having a hard time staying awake, and Victoire insisted, "Teddy, we need to get you to bed." Teddy nodded his head and waved goodbye.
"Too bloody many heroes, too many bloody heroes," Victoire muttered as she wheeled Teddy out.
"Speaking of heroes," said Ginny as she pulled out the evening Prophet. There were two headlines. One was for the article that Rich Hudson wrote, Scorpius Malfoy a Hero Again. The other headline read:
Scorpius Malfoy saves the day
Singlehandedly kills or disables 10 with the Sword of Gryffindor.
Big battle at Malfoy Manor. Albus Potter and his fiancé Cleo in North America after killing a wanted witch in Malfoy Manor.
Harry Potter said after the battle, "Scorpius Malfoy really was key in winning this battle. Having the Sword of Gryffindor come to one of the most prominent Slytherin families should help heal the divisions between the houses." Ron Weasley, in a most touching scene as Scorpius was leaving Malfoy Manor, speaking to his future son-in-law, said, "Good job, son. Good job, son." Scorpius replied, "Thanks, dad. Thank you, dad." These two have obviously become as close as a biological father and son.
It appears that Draco and Astoria Malfoy are not at Scorpius's side, but are sleeping in Malfoy Manor tonight. This reporter watched as Draco and Astoria tried to hide as the battle was ending. (Photo below.) Apparently they did nothing to help to defeat the allies of Jezebel, the Pirate Witch Queen, but ran away.
Narcissa Malfoy is rumored to be over at St. Mungo's with Rose Weasley watching over Scorpius.
There were a number of casualties. The Prophet will attempt to have an accounting of the casualties' tomorrow.
We are still trying to get a fuller accounting of what happened at Malfoy Manor. Auror Seamus Finnigan, who seems to be in charge of cleaning up the mess at Malfoy Manor and trying to figure out what happened, has told this reporter that he is still trying to figure out just what happened. Identifying the dead allies of Jezebel has turned into a bit of a project.
As of the writing of this article there still seemed to be a battle going on in the Caribbean, although from what I understand Albus and Cleo and an army of Aurors and others are winning.
Rita Skeeter had an inside article about how Astoria Greengrass Malfoy hated "Mudbloods" so much that she would not easily stay in the same room with her future daughter-in-law and the mother of her future grandchild, and this caused another big fight between Draco and Astoria. That is why neither Draco nor Astoria were at the bedside of their wounded hero son. Rita loved getting dirt, and as long as she made pure blood fanatics look bad Harry put up with her. It was not something he was particularly proud of, but any alternative he could come up with seemed worse to him.
"Great!" Albus nodded, looking at the articles. "Scorpius needs some recognition. I'm glad he's the hero today. It sounds like he deserves it."
"They just briefly mention of you killing grandma, like that's not the most important part of the story," Ann observed.
"I don't need the attention," Albus theorized.
"Isn't he wonderful!" Cleo smiled with stars in her eyes, looking at Al, hugging him. The tears had finally stopped. Al gave Cleo a little kiss.
"Are they always so mushy like that?" asked Erica to no one in particular.
"Oh they are much worse sometimes," Lily replied, being very dramatic. "Oh AL. Isn't Cleo FANTASTIC. OH OH OH."
"OH GINNY," Harry moaned.
"OH HARRY," Ginny responded in kind, and they gave each other a huge kiss. The other adults laughed. Lily and Hugo made a gagging motion to each other.
Ginny could tell that Al and Cleo were almost falling asleep. In her best mothering fashion, she insisted, "To bed, Al, Cleo. To bed, James and Erica, Lily, Hugo. Once I have Al and Cleo settled I will get a room ready for you, Ann and Orwant." Ginny and Mitzi hustled Al and Cleo up to Al's bedroom. The two stripped to their undergarments and Ginny pushed them into bed. Before she could tuck them in both were sound asleep, lightly touching each other. She made sure the others were in their bedrooms, before coming back down stairs. She then found a bedroom for Ann and Orwant.
Harry did a quick check of the status of the prisoners, then headed up to bed himself. "It's going to be a short night, Love," Harry told Ginny as he settled into bed. "We are through the worst, but we have a long way to go before we are done. I have to visit the family of our Auror who was killed in the fight in the Caribbean, plus I do not know how many wounded, plus we have to finish with the captives in the Ministry auditorium and with the other captured. Another long day tomorrow. It's going to be a tough day too."
Ginny knew that visiting the families of people hurt or killed was something that was very hard on Harry. She was glad she could go with Harry to visit Cho's family.
"Are you going to be done by Christmas Eve?" asked Ginny.
"Close. I think most of us will have most of Christmas Eve and Christmas off, but I guess everyone will have to work a little to cover," Harry thought.
"I have scheduled the weddings for Thursday the 23rd," Ginny told Harry. "Too many problems if we put them off until after Christmas."
"Best we can do," Harry agreed. Harry was quickly asleep.
Ginny stayed awake fretting for a while longer. Victoire had it right, she thought. Too bloody many heroes, and too many bloody heroes.
2022