The final part of the trilogy is here! If you're new to this story, you can head to my profile where you will find two novel-length stories: one covering Claudia's and the Marauders' time at Hogwarts, and one covering their time with the Order during the First Wizarding War.

I'll endeavour to update this regularly.


Eleven Years On

"What is it, Nev?" Claudia asked when she noticed her godson stood rooted on the pavement, a healthy distance from the door of her little green sports car.

"Nothing," Neville mumbled.

"Then, get in the car."

Tentatively, the boy opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat. As he fastened his seatbelt, it did not escape Claudia's attention that his hand was somewhat shaky.

She tried to give him an encouraging smile. "It's safe, Nev, I promise, muggles drive them all the time."

"I'm sure they do. It's just-" he turned away. "When we were driving here... It-" he trailed off and sank deeper into his seat.

But Claudia knew exactly what he was not telling her. "You don't think I can drive, can you?"

"No, it's just." Neville was still looking right out of the car's window. He took a deep breath. "Quite a few times the other cars were honking at us. And so many people yelled through their windows. And gestured-" he cleared his throat– "rudely."

"I can drive!" Claudia scoffed. "I passed a muggle test and everything."

"Alright then." Neville contorted his face into a grimace that was meant to look relaxed but was anything but. "I'm ready."

Claudia stuck the keys into the ignition and the nearly twenty-year-old engine of her temperamental Alfa Romeo convertible spluttered into life. She did not have the heart to tell her godson that the Confundus Charm may have had something to do with the fact she was legally allowed to drive a muggle car. Or about the pile of unpaid speeding tickets in the drawer of her desk.

She kept the roof up, partly to keep the wind out of her eyes but partly also to spare Neville any more profanities that the other drivers were likely to yell in their direction, and set off.

Their short holiday in the South Downs was over, and it was time to drop Neville back at his grandmothers before he started his second year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in a few days.

Once they got onto the motorway, Claudia looked to her side. Neville's eyes were fixated on the road, and he was holding onto the door rather tightly. "You can relax, you know," she said with a chuckle.

"Sorry," Neville mumbled and forced a smile.

"Are you looking forward going back to school?"

Neville turned away again. "Of course," he whispered.

Claudia sighed. She did not have to use any of her Legilimency skills to know he was not telling her the whole truth. "You don't have to put on a brave face in front of me, I know it can be hard. It was hard for me too at first-"

"I bet no one ever thought you were a squib."

She had to smile. "They sure did. The whole of my first year in fact."

"What?" Neville gasped. "But you work at the Ministry and all… You were an auror! You fought in the war!"

Claudia shrugged. "My wand didn't work properly in my first year. It was not the right fit. And even after I got a new one, it took me a while to catch up. Your mum helped me catch up, in fact. That's how we became friends."

"I can't change my wand. It was my dad's... Gran wouldn't hear of it."

"Let me talk to her."

"No, please don't..." Neville said hurriedly. "I want to keep my dad's wand."

Claudia glanced at Neville. He was rubbing the palm of his hand, as if he was trying to scratch off invisible paint. "Alright then," she said. "But tell me if you change your mind, okay?"

"Okay."

Claudia had to bite her lip before she said something ungenerous about Neville's grandmother. The truth was, she never liked her and was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. She never-

"That truck is rather close-" Neville squealed, interrupting Claudia's train of thoughts.

And he was right. Claudia took her foot of the gas and swerved into the middle lane. "Sorry."

"HOOOONK!" Another car sped past Claudia.

"Oh, fuck off," she growled. "What are you honking at me for?"

Neville cleared his throat. "He- he mouthed something about indicating."

"Ah," Claudia smiled and tapped the lever that would turn on her indicators. "I keep forgetting to use those."

Neville was as white as a sheet, and Claudia had to smile to herself. She loved her godson, but it truly was a mystery of how this boy got sorted into Gryffindor. All the other Gryffindors Claudia knew-

No, she thought, not now. You are going to crash this damn car… But it was too late. She could not help but glance at the Canis Major constellation tattoo that was an ever-present reminder of where Sirius was. They never intended to link their tattoos in that way, but she could feel the cold of Azkaban emanating from her left forearm almost constantly. And often it got worse than that. She could feel his pain, all of his mood, his suffering…

"You know what your mum said when you and I met for the first time?" Claudia asked, somewhat hoarsely, desperately trying to keep her focus on her godson and the road. "She turned to your tiny face and said that if anyone ever gives you any trouble, you should come to me-"

"No one is giving me trouble," Neville jumped in rather too quickly. "School will be fine."

"Even potions?" she asked, remembering Neville's rather desperate letters from last year.

"Potions are hard..." he mumbled. "No matter how much I study, I always forget everything- And Professor Snape always finds something wrong."

"Did I ever tell you I was at school with him? We were in the same house too."

"Yeah, you did," Neville sighed. "Were you friends?"

Claudia laughed. "Most certainly not!" But the laughter was soon replaced by a scowl. They were not friends, no. They ended up fighting on the opposite sides of the war, and even at school those battle-lines were being drawn. She had to bite her lip again. Why would Dumbledore let a Death Eater teach at Hogwarts, while not lifting a finger to help Sirius? And not just any Death Eater, the one who killed Harry's parents by telling Voldemort about the stupid Prophecy-

"Aunt Claudia?" Neville uttered.

"Hm?" She returned to reality and took her foot off the gas again before Neville complained (quite rightly) that another car was a little too close to them. "What is it?"

"You were talking about Professor Snape and then you kind of stopped."

"We weren't friends, but I know him well enough. So, I can only imagine what he's like as a teacher."

Neville said nothing, just sighed.

"If you wanted me to talk to him..."

He shook his head. "That would just made everything worse."

Internally, Claudia had to agree. She could only imagine how that conversation would have gone, and she could not fathom a way how both of them would be alive at the end of it. They drove for a while in silence. Claudia was starting to crave a coffee and Neville was wincing every time she overtook a car or changed lanes, so she decided to stop at the next services to give both of them a break.

"I do like Herbology," Neville said out of nowhere once he finished his sausage bap.

"Funny that," Claudia replied, waiting impatiently for a coffee refill. "That was my worst subject. I nearly gave up on being an auror because I never thought I would get a Herbology NEWT."

"You're joking!" Neville finally managed to raise a smile.

"I'm not! Ask Professor Sprout."

"I will." Neville took another bite of his bap. "It's going to be alright. Between Herbology, Ron, Harry, Dean and Seamus, I will be alright."

Claudia swallowed dry. Talking about Neville's classmates had always been agony. She did not know them as Ron, Harry, Dean and Seamus. She knew them as her dead ex-boyfriend's nephew, the orphan son of her very closest friends, and the boy whose father died on an Order mission in a tragic incident of friendly fire. With her luck, this Seamus boy would turn out to be Barraclough's illegitimate son… And she never had the heart to tell Neville any of it. In time, she will of course, but not yet…

"You'll be alright," she said. "There is something in Hogwarts for everyone."

They finished their coffee and snacks and soon were pulling into Mrs Longbottom's driveway. Under the watchful eye of his stern guardian, Neville picked up his bag from the trunk and leaned into the car through the open window.

"Are you going to come in? I'm sure gran made tea…"

Claudia shook her head. She would rather have a tea with a nest of scorpions than Augusta Longbottom. "I need to stop by the Ministry."

"But it's Sunday," Neville protested.

"As the muggles say, Nev, no rest for the wicked."

Neville laughed. "You aren't wicked!"

"Have fun at school," Claudia smirked. And don't forget to write to me."

Neville nodded, turned, and slowly went to greet his grandmother.

As Claudia watched him, she felt overcome. Not by sadness that she was not going to see her godson until the next holiday. Not by worry that he was going to struggle at school. But by guilt. She should have fought for what Alice would have wanted all those years ago. But instead, she capitulated to Mrs Longbottom's demand that she, rather than Claudia, should be Neville's legal guardian. But what else was she meant to do? She was twenty-one, and she was a wreck.

Claudia pushed the guilt away, like she did hundreds of times before and looked at the sky. There was not a cloud in sight. She dropped the roof of her car, fished out her shades and cigarettes from the glove compartment, and set off towards the Ministry of Magic.

Within the hour, her face still burning from the exposure to the elements, Claudia walked through the Department of Mysteries' atrium and straight through the door to the Mind Room. Predictably, it was deserted.

Her brain already swirling with the million things she had to do to make up for her week-long absence, she strode towards the back of the room where her eyes met the brass plaque fixed to the door of the office of the Head of the Mind Room. It no longer read 'Agrippa' as it did the first time she came to this place. Instead, it read–

'C.L.A.'

Claudia's very own initials.

She took the magical key out of her pocket and entered. For three years she has been the Head of the Mind Room, ever since Agrippa got chosen by the other Unspeakables to run the whole of the Department of Mysteries. And yet, this room had changed very little. It was still dark, filled with all kinds of weird artefacts, and looked like the Slytherin common room.

Right opposite the entrance was a heavy mahogany desk, covered in rolls and rolls of parchment. Claudia's assistant, a young and keen wizard by the name of Auberon, was forever begging her to let him put the papers away, but to no avail. His nagging about tidiness aside, however, Auberon's organisation skills were exceptional, as demonstrated by the rather large pile of parchment waiting on Claudia's chair. It was tied together with a black ribbon and a note that read: 'For your return'.

It was bound to be the usual. Letters from various eccentrics, memos from the Ministry, instructions from Agrippa, papers from her team to look at, reports to approve, budgets to allocate… She barely got the time to conduct her own research these day with all the paperwork that was on her desk.

Claudia dropped the papers she was meant to be looking through on the floor and sat down in her chair. Then, she leaned over her desk and pushed all the other parchments to either side to create space in the middle. It was time to get to work.

The first parchment she picked up from the floor was a memo from the Head Auror demanding a meeting to discuss the continuing delays to the delivery of the upgraded veritaserum and threating to take the issue up with the Minister. Claudia rolled her eyes. How many times did she have to explain to these morons that it was not anywhere near ready. She dipped her quill into green ink, so that Auberon knew which notes were hers and wrote, right across the top of the memo.

'Put in a meeting on Monday. I don't care what you have to reschedule. No more than half an hour though. Ask Marcin if he wants to join me.'

Marcin was a potions specialist, one of the five people who worked for Claudia in the Mind Room. He had been working on improving the veritaserium formula for decades. But he preferred spending his days in his laboratory, and disliked dealing with outsiders. Claudia had no idea what he thought of her. He was always civil, but she was not altogether sure he got over the fact she was an Avery, having had the misfortune of being a muggle-born Hogwarts student in the same year as her farther and Voldemort. In any case, she very much doubted he would join her for the meeting, but all she could do was offer.

Next parchment she picked up was a note of a personal nature.

'The Flask, Highgate.'

Claudia could not help but shake her head slightly when she read it. Only she knew what this one meant. At two o'clock on the last Sunday of every month, Claudia had a pub lunch with her former boss, Alastor Moody. It was at a different pub every time and he would send her the location by owl.

Moody was let go from the Auror Office about five years ago, for upsetting the wrong people, and the boredom of a normal life had not been good for him. But if taking ridiculous precautions over lunch made him happy, Claudia was willing to put up with it. She picked up her wand and incinerated the note. It is what Moody would have wanted.

When she was about half-way down the pile, she found herself holding a letter written on parchment with the Hogwarts' crest. Right across the top was a short note in Agrippa's handwriting – 'Please deal with this yourself'.

She began to read the letter. It was from Dumbledore to Agrippa, asking him to pick up a large object that was no longer safe in Hogwarts and that, Dumbledore was sure, the Department of Mysteries would find fascinating.

For a moment, Claudia contemplating ignoring Agrippa's wishes and sending Shivali (her very capable and very keen Legilimency specialist) to pick up the mystery object instead. She hated the idea of going back to Hogwarts and seeing Dumbledore, both of those would surely unearth many unpleasant feelings. But ultimately Claudia decided against it. Shivali liked playing by the book, and disobeying Agrippa's orders would horrify her. Besides, Neville was at Hogwarts now, and Claudia was sure he would like to see her. She picked up her quill and dipped it into the green in again.

"Please schedule this after the term starts."

With that, the Hogwarts letter joined all the other parchments in the completed pile. The next thing demanding Claudia's attention was a memo from the Head of the Love Room – Édith Dubois. But before Claudia could read any of it, a note fell out of the scroll and onto her desk.

'Come to mine for dinner on Sunday. I've missed you while you were gone and cannot wait to hear about all the things you and Neville got up to. Shall we say six o'clock?

Love, Édith

PS. I knew there was no point sending this note to your home. You have a problem, my dear!'

Claudia glanced at her watch. It was nearly three, and it would take her a good hour to drive to Édith's. She could of course leave the car at the Ministry and take the Floo but the wretched muggles were bound to tow it, and Claudia refused to deal with that again.

"Alright," she sighed with a glance at the pile of parchments she was yet to get through. "You got two hours to get through the rest of it." She was about to hit the little bell on her desk that would alert Auberon that she needed something, when she realised that he was not there, and grumbled. It would take her ages to locate a coffee in the Department, so she decided to push through without any additional caffeine. And at half past five, she was done.

Claudia arrived at Édith's only forty-five minutes late, which was significantly better than what she usually managed.

"I was starting to think that I should've sent the note to your flat," Édith said with a smile as she opened the door. "But no, workaholics never disappoint-"

"Sorry," Claudia mumbled. "If I had access to coffee, I would've been on time."

"If you had access to coffee," Édith said with a smile and pulled Claudia through the front door. "You would've found a million other things to do." She leaned down slightly (she was about an inch or two taller than Claudia) and kissed her. "Come on," Édith added. "The dinner will get cold."

Claudia followed her into the dining room without another word. Her mind was still very much with her paperwork. She was going through all the things she was determined to tell the Head Auror, and kept wondering what it was Dumbledore wanted her to pick up-

"Still or sparkling?" Édith asked.

Claudia stared at Édith, who was holding a bottle of water in each hand, for a few seconds. "Still," she finally replied, remembering where she was.

"How's Neville?"

"Oh, you know. Neville's Neville. I wish he let me help him. But he's so worried about being a disappointment, he rather be miserable." Claudia sighed. "Let's just hope he comes out of the whole thing stronger."

"Well, if you need cheering up," Édith said. "Agrippa really missed you."

"Did Beresford tried to talk him into giving him my job again?" Claudia replied bitterly. Beresford was an ex-healer who joined the Mind Room only four months ago. He replaced Édith, when she moved from the Mind Room to the Love Room so that her and Claudia could date. Beresford was in his fifties and made no attempt to hide the fact he despised having a thirty-something woman for his boss.

"Yes, he did." Édith said with a chuckle. "But please don't kill him. I need to borrow him tomorrow. We got our hands on a new love potion that is causing some very unusual reaction."

"You can keep him if you want," Claudia replied bitterly.

They spend the rest of the dinner talking about everything else that happened at the Ministry while Claudia was away, before moving to the sofa. Édith had a glass of wine, while Claudia stuck to water. She had not had a drink since that day Ted Tonks founds her wandering the streets of London. She was too scared it would make her want to jump in front of a truck again-

"Agrippa was not the only one who missed you," Édith said with a wry smile.

Claudia closed her eyes and dropped her head on Édith's shoulder. She knew it could never grow into more, for she could only ever love someone else, but she was glad of the company in any case. Édith was smart, interesting and did not ask too many questions, which was all that mattered to Claudia at this point. Besides, Édith was an empath, so Claudia did not have to fake or explain any of her emotions. It brought her a strange comfort. And being with a woman was different enough that the picture of Sirius' face did not keep flashing in her mind every time she had sex.

As she rested in bed next to Édith all warm and exhausted, her arm shivered and her whole body tensed up. Anxiety was beginning to build up in her chest. She knew what was coming. Sometimes, it was barely noticeable, just a small shiver or two, as if a light gush of wind came through the cracks in the window frame. But today was not one of those days. No matter how much blanket Claudia cradled, or how hard she hugged her whole naked body, she could not stop shaking. Her chest was tight, so much so that pain – an actual physical pain – was crippling her. She did not know what the Dementors were doing to him to bring this on. She could only imagine.

By about midnight, Claudia could not take it anymore and got up. A shower did not help, neither did putting her clothes back on. So, she went down to the living room, made tea and lit Édith's fire.

The mug was nearly empty when Édith came down, wearing a silky dressing gown.

"How are you feeling?" she whispered.

"I'm fine."

"Forgotten I'm an empath again?"

"No."

"I can feel the pain is unbearable today."

Claudia sighed. "Nothing I can do. It's this wretched tattoo-"

"I don't think that's the whole story. I can help you get better. Not with spells, or potions. But the muggle way, talking..."

Claudia shook her head and sipped her coffee in silence. Her breaths were still shallow, and she felt weak. Too weak and too cold to try control the shivers.

"Do you want to get better?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Claudia hissed at Édith, somewhat aggressively, her teeth still clattering.

But Édith did not let the change in Claudia's tone rattle her. "I think the pain and the anger fuels you. You need it. I don't think you know who you are without it."

"Stop it!" Claudia barked. "You know that I hate when you do this to me. I'm not some kind of test subject!"

"It's our own emotions. I'm just-"

"I like them where they are," she growled. "Buried inside of me!"

"Alright, alright... I'm sorry."

Claudia sighed. "It's not always like this. There are days when it's easier."

"I know."

Claudia used all her strength to stand up and shuffled over to kiss Édith on the cheek. "I have to go. I need to sort a few things at home before tomorrow. And I don't want to leave the car here." That was a lie. All she wanted was to be at home. Alone.

"Are you sure? I'm not sure you should be driving…"

"I'm fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You will?" Édith sounded far from convinced.

Claudia smirked. "You wanted to borrow Beresford to look your love potion. You don't think I would let him go unsupervised, do you?"

Even Edith had to laugh at that. "Get out of here."

With one last glance at Édith, who was waving at her from the living room window, Claudia drove away. She had to stop at the end of Édith road to close her eyes for a moment and smoke a cigarette, to compose herself. The worst of the pain and shivers was gone, but not quite all of it. The dementors must have finished whatever they were doing to him today. But it would take a while before Claudia would stop feeling the aftershocks. And she could only imagine how much worse it was for him. She did not try to think about it, but she did. Every single day. Every single day for eleven long years.

Mercifully, it was not a long way to Gower Mews. Within half an hour, she had parked her car in the garage and was climbing the short flight of stairs to her flat, where little had changed over the years-

Sirius' piano (which had gathered a very thick layer of dust as Claudia never played) and the Freddie Mercury poster were still there. Claudia could not help but sigh. If Sirius ever got out of Azkaban, she was not going to be the one to tell him that Freddie had died. The furniture was still the same too – the armchairs now slightly tattered and the rug was stained. But none of that mattered. No one ever came here. Claudia could not bear anyone being here, let alone touching anything. Not Moody, not her colleagues, and definitely not Édith.

She grabbed a pack of crisps and a fresh cup of coffee and walked towards the section of wall by the fireplace. They used to have the drinks cabinet there, but she tossed that out when she stopped drinking. Instead of the cabinet, a framed photo of Claudia and Sirius hung on the wall. She smiled at him, and he waved back from the photograph.

When she turned off the lights and placed the palm of her hand right under the photo, she noticed her hand was steady. The shakes had gone.

"Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo," she uttered.

It was not a spell, but rather a password. 'If I cannot sway the heavens, I will raise hell.' It was Virgil. The old head of Department of Mysteries used to say that any Unspeakable worth the name should know Latin, and reading old muggle texts was how they learned.

The wall had parted to reveal a steep staircase that Claudia climbed into the attic room. She had put the room in about five or six years ago when the flat started to feel a little too small for all her research and papers. It was magically enlarged well past the real-world boundaries of the house, and exceptionally well concealed – Claudia has crafted her own modifications to the standard concealment spells to make sure the entrance only responded to her touch and voice.

The room had no windows and was illuminated by a series of wall lamps. There were book cases, cabinets wherever one looked. And the entirety of the long wall was covered with scraps of paper, drawings and maps.

In the centre of the wall hung pictures of two men – Frederick Avery and Bartemius Crouch. The two men she blamed for what happened to Sirius. Sure, she blamed other people too – Voldemort, of course, Marcus, Dumbledore, the then Minister of Magic. But no one quite like her father and her former boss.

Now completely calm again, Claudia looked at her watch. It was two o'clock in the morning. Her father would be long in his bed, which was on the wrong side of the house.

Claudia walked over to one of her cabinets and took out a vial of memories. They shimmered beautifully in the dim light of the room. But what was inside was far from beautiful. It was a memory of an old hag being torn apart by wolves. A gruesome and painful death, just the kind her father would have deserved. But if she had any chance of implanting these memories, she needed him in his study, where she could see him from the outside. Where she could watch him suffer.

A satisfied smirk crossed her face. What was even more impressive than finding this memory was the fact that she managed to isolate the pain and the emotion alone just before she left on her holiday. That meant she would not need to use a memory charm to mask that it was a foreign memory that was causing Frederick's anguish rather than his own. She long suspected that these memory charms dulled the pain and made it more manageable for him.

That was not fair.

Nothing was dulling what the Dementor's were doing to Sirius' head. And Frederick was going to suffer just as much if Claudia had anything to do with it.