[A/N: Happy Birthday, Harry! Have another chapter!]
Aurora was annoyed at being sent to bed, but things became immediately less tense once she and Harry were gone. Tonks thought Sirius might still go off on another profanity-laced tirade or that Remus might finally get his two cents in about Theodosia refusing to give any kind of information until she got to speak to Aurora.
But Tonks had a few words for Theodosia as well.
"She looks like you, Sirius," Theodosia said. "But every word that comes out of her mouth you can tell was put there by Remus."
"Well, he did raise her, after all," Sirius said. "But make no mistake. Tonks sent her to bed before she could show you just how similar we are. I've been thankful every day since I found out that Remus raised her. And you should be thankful now that he taught her any kind of self-restraint. I've seen her tell much more important people much worse for far less."
"Settle," Tonks said. She really did need him to keep his head. "You've done all you can for Aurora since she met you and that's all that matters. Theodosia will have to accept the choices she made and what Aurora thinks of them for herself."
"You're Andromeda's daughter?" Theodosia asked. Tonks paused before she nodded. "Aurora must like you. Sirius was close with your mum if I recall. I'm glad she's found roots to connect her to part of her family."
Tonks nodded. "Yes. She is my family and I've spent the better part of the last 10 months doing everything in my power to ensure her well-being."
"I'm not too proud to admit that it's more than I've ever done for her," Theodosaid said.
"It's not a contest. She's a 15-year-old girl who keeps having her life shat on and she somehow still manages to not let it leave her feeling jaded," Tonks said. "So here's what you're going to do."
Theodosia raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Me?"
"Yes," Tonks replied. With hardly a wave of her wand, Theodosia was made to sit in a chair and Tonks sat down across from her.
"Impressive," Theodosia said.
"You're going to tell the truth," Tonks said,
"I haven't lied," Theodosia said tersely.
"You're going to tell the truth to the Ministry," Tonks said. "About your brother, about the Servants of Pythia, and Sirius. All of it?"
"Am I?"
"Yes. You are. You may not care about the way you wrecked that girl's life, but I was there when she found out you were alive. I got tos it there and watch her cry while she read your brother's letter. And you know what upset her the most?" Tonks asked.
Theodosia had the audacity to seem irritated. Tonks felt Sirius seethe on the other side of the table.
"I imagine it's because I left her with Remus on purpose," she said.
"Don't flatter yourself," Tonks said. Theodosia seemed stunned at this like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her head. "She could not believe you let Sirius sit in prison. And you show up here like you don't even care that you did it. Like you were doing him a favor. So if you want any chance of having a productive conversation with her, you'd better at least make it seem like you want to make it right."
"Wow. You seemed so polite before. You must make a good auror," Theodosia said.
"I certainly do, but this isn't about me. This is about Aurora. And Sirius. And if you give even half a shit about either of them, I might come back downstairs tomorrow morning with a positive attitude about ending your life as a hermit," Tonks said.
Theodosia stared hard at Tonks. "I'll sleep on it. But there are things about my solitude and my leaving that you aren't aware of."
Sirius stood. A calm seemed to have settled over him. "Come on then. I'll get you settled in. I imagine we have more to talk about anyway."
"Of course," Theodosia said. She stood as well. "Until tomorrow."
She followed Sirius from the room and Tonks let out a breath.
"I'm sure she used to be pleasant," Tonks said.
"She's been living alone and in fear for the last 14 years. I'm sure her head isn't right," Remus said.
Tonks got to her feet and stretched.
"I didn't mean to come off so harshly, but I just remembered giving Aurora that letter and seeing her so upset. And Theodosia doesn't even act as if she cares. Which isn't true or she wouldn't have asked to talk to Aurora at all. But-."
Tonks was silenced when Remus pulled her into a hug. She was startled. They'd hugged before, dozens of times, but this felt different. It wasn't a hug so much as it was Remus trying to anchor himself.
She held him back.
"Are you alright?" she asked quietly.
"Thank you," he said.
"For what?" she asked.
"Aurora spends all her time defending everyone else, even now. You didn't waste a moment thinking of her first though," he said.
Tonks almost laughed. "Why wouldn't I have done it? And if you say it's because she's not my kid or that I haven't known her long or that I'm only around because of the Order then I feel like you don't know me at all."
Remus held her tighter before pulling back from her, leaving his hands to rest on her shoulders. Their eyes locked. A strange discomfort sat in her stomach. She wanted to look away but held his gaze. It was exhausting running away from this. Whatever "this" was.
"I do know you. And I've never been more thankful to know you than I am right now," he said. And then he kissed her on the cheek. It was impossible for this to be an accident. Remus towered over her. It was intentional.
Their eyes met again. She could tell he seemed apprehensive about what he'd done, but Tonks was relieved. Everything hadn't been in her head. There was something here.
"Remus," she started, her heart pounding in her chest and her ears.
Before either of them could say anything, there was a voice from the door.
"Sorry," Harry said.
Tonks and Remus both took a step back from each other. Harry clearly looked like he wish he'd never come back into the room.
"I just... I never got my water," he said.
"Of course," Remus assured him. Harry quickly scurried down to the kitchen.
Now neither of them was looking the other in the eye. Whatever moment Tonks and Remus were having, whatever they were about to say to each other, it was passed.
"I'm not going to be able to sleep with her hanging around," Tonks said. "Constant vigilance and all that. I'll wait for Harry to finish up if you wanted to head to bed or-."
"I'd better check on Aurora," Remus said quickly. She nodded. "But truly. Thank you."
She nodded again and her stomach twisted into a knot.
"Goodnight," he said. He walked from the dining room and Tonks' stomach seemed to unclench and she felt like she might throw up.
This was stupid. It shouldn't have been this difficult for them to just talk. Every time they got close, they were always derailed and then they would pretend things were fine which made every subsequent conversation much harder and more awkward and not fine. She could hardly imagine how things would be tomorrow.
Harry emerged from the kitchen, glass in hand. His eyes seemed to be scanning the room for Remus.
"Remus went to check on Aurora," she said.
"Oh."
There hadn't been anything for Harry to see when he walked into the room a few minutes ago. But there also hadn't been anything for Tonks to see when she walked in on Harry and Aurora in the kitchen. But the energy in the room was weird. They'd been having a moment.
"You alright?" she asked. "Crazy evening."
Harry shrugged. "Feel like a bit of a bystander if I'm being honest. I just know that Rory has a lot of feelings about her mum."
"You probably know what she'd thinking better than any of us," Tonks said.
"Maybe, I used to. We chat now, but it's different," Harry said. "But she does know I'm a good resource to keep around when shit gets weird. Like today. Or this year as a whole really."
"You are an expert there I hear," she said.
Harry sat his glass on the table and seemed to think for a moment, running his finger around the rim of the glass.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Did you really tell Rory that she should break up with me?" he asked.
She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Not directly. But I did suggest it."
He sighed. "Guess I really did suck more than I realized."
"Part of being 15 I'm afraid," she said. "If it makes you feel better, you've got plenty of time to grow and learn from your mistakes. And whatever happened with the two of you she's clearly forgiven you for it."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "She didn't tell you what happened?"
Tonks shook her head. "No."
Harry glanced over to the door, a wistful look in his eye. "I really thought she'd have told you. She said she hadn't told anyone because she didn't want people to think badly of me. That I was a shitty boyfriend but not a shitty person and she didn't want people to think otherwise."
That girl was really something. Tonks recalled being ready and willing to disparage all of her exes. Aurora didn't seem to have the same instinct. Or maybe Harry just deserved more credit than Tonks had given him.
"I do think it's good we broke up. We both kind of realized we needed the space," Harry said. His voice trailed off, but Tonks knew where his thoughts were headed. They needed the space, but he hoped the space wouldn't last forever.
He picked up his water glass from the table. "I'd better get to bed."
Tonks nodded and he left the room. She definitely thought they needed the space, but she was also starting to see why Sirius was rooting for them.
Harry wanted to sit for a moment before he went up to bed and dealt with questions from Ron and Neville. He pushed the lounge door open and found Sirius and Remus inside.
He'd been doing his best to avoid Remus while he'd been here. He was especially keen to avoid him after walking in on whatever was going on between him and Tonks a few minutes ago. But he had wanted to have a word with him and Sirius. With the evening's turn of events he suspected he wouldn't get another opportunity.
"You aren't in bed yet?" Sirius asked.
"Was trying to avoid Ron a bit longer," Harry admitted.
"It has been an eventful thirty minutes," Sirius said. "Don't blame you for wanting to take a breath from it."
Harry nodded. "Can I ask you something? Both of you."
Sirius and Remus exchanged looks.
"Of course," Remus said.
Harry thought over his words for a moment. He thought about the conversation he'd had with Rory at the start of the Easter holiday.
"Consider that maybe Snape did have a reason to dislike your dad so intensely."
What would Rory have asked them?
"Was my dad a dick?" Harry asked.
Naturally, Sirius and Remus were caught off-guard by the question. They stared at him blankly for a long moment. Then they looked at each other and laughed.
"Harry, what on earth are you on about?" Sirius laughed, motioning him over to sit down.
Harry took a seat and revealed what he'd seen in Snape's memory. By the end of Harry's retelling, Remus looked like he was torn between wanting to crawl inside of himself and laughing. Sirius seemed to have bypassed any embarrassment and was amused.
"It wasn't that big of a deal," Sirius said.
Harry was flabbergasted, but not wholly unsurprised. Rory thought Sirius might've been at least a little embarrassed about the things he'd done when he was their age. Clearly, that was not the case.
"He attacked Snape for no reason. Because you were bored," Harry said pointedly.
Now Sirius cringed a little, but still shrugged it off.
"It was a phase, really," Sirius assured him.
Harry was not convinced and looked to Remus for some further assurance.
"Yes, James could be arrogant. A jerk. Snape wasn't well-liked and was frequently a target of his. And James liked to show off at any opportunity," Remus said. "And I'm not excusing anything that he did. And I'm certainly guilty of turning a blind-eye to his more unsavory activities. But he was a teenager. We all were. Poor judgment is a hallmark trait of being young."
Harry knew that all too well, but he didn't go out of his way to hurt people. He wasn't… Mean.
"What about my mum? She seemed like she hated him," Harry said.
"Nah, she didn't," Sirius said. "Just like Remus said, we were young. Eventually, James did grow out of it. I promise you that Lily would've never put up with him if he hadn't."
Remus nodded in agreement.
It still made Harry wonder. But he remembered something else Rory said to him.
"Think of all the shit you've done this year. Do you think you'll grow out of it or will you act like you're 15 forever?"
"I'm curious," Remus said. "How did Snape take you seeing this memory of his?"
Shit. Harry was hoping the conversation wouldn't go in this direction at all. But he couldn't lie. Not outright at least.
"He took it… Not well," Harry said.
"Elaborate on 'not well,'" Remus said.
"He was so angry that he didn't even yell at me. Just told me to leave," Harry said.
"And your occlumency lessons?" Sirius asked, suddenly concerned.
Yeah, Harry had definitely made a misstep with this conversation.
"He, er, made it pretty clear that when I got back from break that there wouldn't be any lessons," Harry said.
Sirius and Remus then couldn't help but talk over one another trying to impress upon him the seriousness of practicing occlumency.
"Nothing… There is nothing as important as you practicing your Occlumency now. Nothing," Remus said.
"I know I would literally rather swallow a mouth full of glass than apologize to Severus, but in this one specific instance," Sirius said, "you must."
Harry sighed. He would literally rather take his chances with Voldemort than ever give Snape any kind of satisfaction. But. He could give Sirius and Remus some reassurance.
"I promise I will make sure that I have my Occlumency lessons," Harry said. Just not with Snape. Because Rory was going to help him.
Still, Sirius and Remus seemed relieved. He would be keeping this particular half-truth to himself.
Rory hardly slept She'd briefly checked in with her dad before heading to her room. Hermione, Matilda, and Ginny had a million questions, but Rory had no answers. Her mother was here. She didn't know why other than that Dumbledore sent her.
The sleep she did have was disturbed and full of dreams.
She diligently scribbled them down in her journal when she was, but was too exhausted to make any attempt to interpret them at the moment.
Her roommates were asleep but she climbed out of, brushed her teeth, and made her way to the dining room. She could already smell coffee wafting through the air. She opened the door and saw Harry and Tonks sitting at the table.
"Good morning," Tonks said cheerfully. There were bags under her eyes though, and was clearly only awake through the strength of caffeine. "Hope my coffee skills are adequate."
"As long as it's hot, I have no complaints," Rory replied. She took a seat next to Harry who filled a mug with coffee and slid it over to her. She nodded her thanks "You're both up early."
"No, Harry's up early. I'm still awake," Tonks said.
"Are you that suspicious of her?" Rory asked.
"Have to have a healthy suspicion of everyone who waltzes in here like she did," she replied.
"Sounds like something Moody would say," Harry said.
"Well, I spent most of my time with him when I was a trainee. People say he's mad, but also never been a better auror than him to date, so maybe he's onto something," Tonks said with a shrug.
Rory took a sip from her mug. She had a point.
"Also, I wanted to make sure Sirius didn't commit any actual murder while everyone was sleeping," Tonks said.
That was probably a safe idea. Rory didn't think she'd ever actually heard Sirius upset before last night, the sole exception being the night they met in the Shrieking Shack.
"Remus was up early as well, but I sent him back to bed to at least pretend to sleep," Tonks said.
"Thanks," Rory replied. There was a full moon on the horizon so he was going to be dragging all day as it was.
"Are you doing alright?" Tonks asked.
Rory nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Tonks and Harry exchanged glances. Rory resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She had every reason in the world to not be doing well. But she was trying to keep a cool head as Tonks had suggested.
"I'm fine. I'm going to listen and not talk and not be a problem," Rory said.
"I'm sure you mean that," Harry said. "I know you really want to listen, not talk, and not be a problem, and I hope this time you actually succeed." Rory rolled her and took another sip of her coffee. "Don't look at me like that. I know how you are."
Rory knew he wasn't doing it on purpose. He wasn't really doing much of anything aside from teasing her. It was her own fault for being delighted by his entire existence. She had nothing to be charmed by, and yet here she was, trying to will herself into being irritated with him, and instead thinking it was cute.
Mrs. Weasley glided into the room and immediately went over to Rory. She squeezed her tightly and went on and on about what a difficult evening she must've had and that Theodosia had a lot of nerve showing up without giving any real answers and that Rory must be starving and that coffee alone is not a suitable breakfast.
Rory wasn't even sure Mrs. Weasley stopped to take a breath as she entered the room, checked on Rory, and left to make breakfast. Rory already knew she was going to be overwhelmed by everyone this morning. She wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible.
As the morning rolled on, their friends gathered in the dining room. Rory didn't chat much, and to her great relief, they didn't press her much beyond what she offered. By the time breakfast was over, the only people who hadn't emerged were Sirius and Theodosia. Rory assumed this was by design.
When breakfast was over, they were all dismissed from the room, which Rory expected. She avoided her friends by taking a shower and changing out her pajamas. Matilda and Neville were waiting for her when she emerged from her room.
"I know you're having a lot of feelings right now," Matilda said, "but you've been avoiding us since you had your fun little chat with Harry. I'm trying not to be offended, but since you're not dating anymore, it does feel a bit like you're intentionally being secretive."
Rory sighed. "I'm sorry."
"You were sorry last year too when you didn't tell us you were a seer," Neville said.
"We decided to give you a little slack since apparently, your crazy extra divination skills go hand in hand with a giant cult that worships you," Matilda said. "But, we'll get on your case about that later."
"I haven't talked to her since last night," Rory said. "Tonks knew I was getting upset. Sirius and my dad were already upset when I came into the room. She sent everyone to bed. She was in full-on Auror mode last night. She hasn't even been to bed yet."
"I'm sure you got your full eight hours," Neville said pointedly.
She hadn't obviously. "I'll give you a full update after I talk to her. Assuming Dad and Sirius don't murder her first."
"The thought of your dad being angry with anyone makes my skin crawl. Can't imagine it," Neville said.
"He has his moments. Especially with me lately," Rory said. Remus Lupin didn't raise his voice very often, but Rory had seen it often enough. She did stress him out more than anyone else.
"We have moments with you lately," Matilda said.
"Sorry," she said. "Really. I've kind of sucked lately."
"We know," Matilda said. "But we love you anyway."
The dining room door opened and Sirius started down the hall towards them.
"Not committed any homicides have you?" Rory asked.
"Thankfully, Theo isn't as deranged as she seemed," Sirius said. "She's actually remarkably reasonable, which has always been one of her more annoying traits."
He put a hand on her shoulder. "You're alright?" she asked him.
Sirius chuckled dryly. "Aurora, I don't know how to answer that question."
He ushered her down the hall and went on his way to retrieve Harry.
In the dining room, Rory was unsurprised to find along with Bill and his parents, that Moody and Kingsley had also shown up for this conversation. Tonks and her dad were in the corner talking back and forth quietly. They both looked tired. Rory couldn't tell who looked like they needed to sleep more.
Theodosia sat at the head of the table. She looked less frazzled than she had yesterday. Tonks was right. Sleep and food had done them all good, even Theodosia.
Rory was going to do her best to listen, to understand. But she was upset. She was right to be upset, wasn't she? Rory would've had a completely different life if Sirius had never gone to prison. Harry's life would've been different. Maybe she wouldn't have gotten to have her dad as her dad, but even his life would've been different.
There had to be a good reason she left. That she was afraid of Rory wasn't good enough. And Rory could tell, she could feel that Theodosia was holding something back.
Tonks and Remus looked over to Rory. She walked over to them and stood close to her dad.
"You alright?" Remus asked her for probably the fiftieth time that morning.
"I'm fine," she said. "Meanwhile you two look like you're going to fall over."
"It's worse for her because she has a choice about it," Remus said.
"Ouch. A valid, but low blow," Tonks said.
"You don't look terrible," Remus said.
"Okay, you didn't even say terrible before," Tonks said.
"Tired," Remus said.
"Tired and terrible," Tonks said. "Thank you. It's a wonder your daughter has any tact at all."
Rory wrapped her arms around her dad and squeezed him tightly.
The dining room door opened. Sirius and Harry walked in. Sirius closed the door behind himself.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Sirius asked.
As everyone took seats at the table, Mrs. Weasley passed around a pot of coffee. Remus gave Rory a pointed look as she filled her mug, but she needed something to do with her hands. She needed a distraction.
Theodosia sat there and seemed to think for a moment.
"Where would you like me to start?" she asked finally.
"How did you get here?" Moody asked. "You said you talked to Dumbledore?"
"He found me," Theodosia said. "Despite my best efforts to not be found."
"He does that," Mr. Weasley chuckled.
"Despite the intrusion, I have to admit, I appreciate the assistance. I imagine it was only a matter of time before You-Know-Who tracked me down," she went on. "After I tricked Pettigrew into giving me the Talking Board, I've had too many close calls to count, especially since my darling brother put my face in the papers."
Rory nodded. "Aside from Voldemort wanting your head, which is a problem many of us probably have right now, why is it so imperative that you keep yourself hidden? Why not just come out and tell the truth about your brother?"
About Sirius. About the Potters. About everything.
Theodosia looked over to Tonks and gave her a smile. "My goodness, Auror Tonks knows you well. She said you wouldn't be keen on cooperating unless I came clean to the Ministry."
"And will you?" Rory asked.
Again, Theodosia looked to Tonks. Then to Sirius. And finally back to Rory.
"No. I won't," she said.
Rory pursed her lips. Maybe she had a good reason. She wasn't going to scream at the woman who gave her life for being a coward and a piece of shit just yet. Everyone deserved the opportunity to be handed a shovel to dig their own grave.
"Why?" Rory asked. Her toned was sharp. No point in hiding that she was furious after all.
"Because of Atlas," Theodosia said. She looked to Tonks again. "Sure you know who he is."
Tonks nodded. "Anna Crosby's son. Levi's son."
Rory raised an eyebrow. "Levi's got a kid?"
"When he ran off to the States," Sirius said. "She explained all of this to us when she found out. What's he got to do with this?"
Theodosia sat back in her chair. Rory knew that this was the truth of why her mother had left and not come back. But how did Levi's son fit into all this?
"Is that what Levi told you? Or did you talk to Anna?" Theodosia asked.
"Anna Crosby came all the way from New York to smack me in the face and warned me to never contact her again, and I've done just that and let her and her son be," Tonks said. "But I found this out through my own digging because Levi Goldfinch won't talk to me except in circles."
Theodosia was quiet for a long moment. She stared down into her own coffee mug, her eyebrows furrowed, lips scrunched together. Rory couldn't help but wonder if she looked the same when she was thinking hard about something.
"Makes sense that Levi wouldn't be forthcoming about Anna or Atlas. Keeping his mouth shut about them is probably the only kind thing he's done since taking up the mantle of Apollo," Theodosia said. She looked up from her mug and looked directly at Sirius. "Sorry."
"You'll have to be more specific about why you're apologizing," Sirius said.
"Because. Atlas isn't Levi's son," Theodosia said. "He's yours."
