Teddy, you really should stop that." His godson had done it again and looking at him was like looking into a mirror, minus the glasses and plus a very concerned look. Teddy blushed and his hair turned purple again.
Harry was close to tears with exhaustion. He hadn't even been able to hold on to the sword of Gryffindor. Not that he had needed it any longer, but it had just vanished from his hands and at that moment his knees had given way. He had assured his aurors that he had not fainted, but Teddy had side-alonged him to Grimmauld and since then had positively fussed over him. Now they sat in the living room and Harry slowly drank the cocoa Teddy had made for him. The taste of chocolate did lift his mood.
Kreacher was nowhere to be seen. Harry silently cursed the fact that Ginny had given him a free day. He could use one of Kreacher's sandwiches now.
Teddy's hair might have turned to purple again, but the concerned look was still prominent on his face. Harry tried to contain his sigh.
"I am o.k., Teddy, really."
"You don't look o.k., Uncle Harry. You haven't looked o.k. for weeks, to be honest."
"That is because I haven't been o.k. for weeks." Harry blurted out.
"So, you're not o.k. then. Did that bastard Sloane hex you when you arrested him?". Teddy looked ready to apparate back to Azkaban and pummel the man.
Harry rubbed his eyes. "I'd just like something to eat."
He called for Kreacher again but got no answer. He tried to summon enough energy to simply stand up and walk to the kitchen.
Teddy seemed to guess his intention and jumped up, so Harry let himself sink deeper into the sofa again, in gratitude.
He looked at his watch. Where was Ginny? The tea with Hermione had been an early tea, and it was early evening now. Apparently, the meeting was a success. Harry stamped on the jealousy that raised its ugly head in his guts before he had even decided who he was jealous of.
Teddy came back with several sandwiches and Harry grabbed at them, gratefully digging in.
"Is this about the memory vial, Uncle Harry?"
Harry blinked.
"The fact that you're not o.k."
Harry's thoughts began to whirl. "The memory vial?"
Teddy rolled his eyes. "You do remember, Uncle Harry, that you told me to find out who stole that vial."
Harry nodded. His heart sank.
"Dawlish took it, but why? What was in it? And why was a memory about a minor theft so important? It must be important, or you wouldn't worry about it so much."
Harry could not help himself. He laughed. Teddy obviously lacked the ability to relate to a criminal mind.
Teddy's eyes were still locked on Harry, his mien puzzled.
Harry inhaled deeply. "You're a good auror, Teddy. Think beyond the inhibition of your preconceived ideas. Don't shy from the worst. Remember, 'he would never do that' is not a valid argument."
Teddy frowned. "Uncle Harry?"
Harry could see the exact moment when Teddy understood, when his face fell, when doubt turned to disbelief, and then to shock. His heart clenched. Teddy probably would never mimic Harry again.
"That vial held Snape's memories? And Dawlish gave them to Sloane?"
Harry nodded.
"But that would mean you suppressed evidence."
Harry nodded again.
"Uncle Harry, you would never…."
Harry arched an eyebrow at him.
Teddy let out his breath in a huff. "But why?"
"I found the memories when I was still a hundred percent convinced that Malfoy had drugged Hermione with amortentia."
He studied his nails. "Which is an explanation, not an excuse."
"But you always told us how important it is to be meticulous about evidence." Teddy protested.
Harry huffed. "Because I know how tempting it is."
He set down his cocoa cup, aligning the cup to the saucer. "I was tempted. So often. It was always a struggle. It has always been Pansy who held me back."
He looked above Teddy's head at the photos on the mantelpiece, the photos of Ginny and the children.
"It's just one of your hunches, Harry." He imitated Pansy's voice. "We can't arrest them on one of your hunches. We have to get the evidence. Or what are you going to tell the judge, Harry: 'we have no evidence your honour, but my gut told me he was guilty'.
His eyes found Teddy's face again. Teddy opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His hand with one of the sandwiches, half-eaten, was frozen in mid-air.
"My hunch about Malfoy…" Harry sighed. "It was completely off. And I should have realised. And I held back evidence, because I was so sure, I was right."
"Is that why you almost never send us out alone?" Teddy whispered.
Harry nodded. He felt oddly relieved. Teddy let his hand sink on his knee, still holding on to the sandwich.
"So, you basically taught us all these things and you yourself…." He stared at his sandwich, not meeting Harry's eyes.
"It's o.k. to name this for what it is, Teddy. Your godfather is a hypocrite."
Teddy shook his head. "I'm not sure. That would imply that you did it all the time."
He looked up again. "Does Ginny know?"
Harry felt tears pricking at his eyes. He nodded, not trusting his voice.
Teddy stood up and began to pace. If the experience with telling Pansy was anything to go by, Teddy probably would leave soon, maybe bang the door.
Harry waited for the blow to fall. The silence pressed hard on him. Teddy looked out of the window, his face crumpled in a frown.
He did not expect what came next.
"Why are Dudley and Astoria Greengrass in front of Grimmauld?"
"What?"
Teddy pointed. "They look somewhat agitated."
A rush of fear washed through Harry's veins. He jumped up and ran to the front door, throwing open the door.
"Harry, thank God," Dudley said. "Why don't you answer your phone? I've called a million times."
Professor Greengrass sagged in relief. "I've tried to reach you for hours. The floo in the auror department is closed. And Professor Flitwick sent a patronus. Did you not get that?"
Their high-pitched voices told Harry it was urgent.
"What is up?" He dreaded the answer. Suddenly, it was alarming that Ginny had not returned.
He ushered them in, and Dudley and Professor Greengrass talked over each other, but Harry was used to witnesses being upset and out of it.
"Gryffindor children at Malfoy Manor?" Teddy's voice was toppling over. "They still have that bloody trial of courage? Ginny? Pansy? Why didn't they send a patronus? And Neville went after them and hasn't returned?"
"Merlin, when did that happen?" Harry felt as if he had been drenched in sweat within the span of a minute.
"Maybe three hours ago?"
There was no time to wonder why Professor Greengrass had found the floo closed, why Flitwick's patronus had not arrived, no time to check why Dudley's calls had not reached Harry.
"Thanks Dudley. Teddy, we go there now."
"I'll floo back to Hogwarts and call for reinforcement," Professor Greengrass said. Her face was determined.
Harry pressed the pot with floo powder in her hand. "Call for as many as you can."
He felt queasy when he conjured his multiple stags, but his fear prevented him from giving in to his fatigue. He wondered what to say.
"Unknown danger to children, possibly rogue elves and curses. To Malfoy Manor. Now."
"Side-along me, Teddy. I need to spare some of my energy." He took his godson's hand and Teddy did as he was told.
It was as if someone had turned off the sunny summer evening. The Manor and the grounds were under a dark cloud that blocked out the sun and Harry began to shiver with cold immediately after his feet touched the grass. Grass that should have been green and lush, but that looked dead and withered.
The Manor looked like a ruin. Harry adjusted his glasses. The Manor was a ruin. It looked like some enormous beast hat bitten a large chunk out of it. Harry stared at the cloud.
"Dementors." Teddy whispered. "Why are they here?"
He had not hesitated and had been alert enough to conjure his patronus. His wolf stood at his side, but it was the only thing that gave of any light.
"There are people." Teddy pointed. Harry could barely make them out in the dark. Two or maybe three people were standing before something that looked like a muggle van. The dementors attacked them but gave the van a wide berth. That was probably the only reason why they were not down yet. Harry couldn't see a whiff of any patronus.
One of the figures held something that looked like a long shiny and silvery wand. The dementors seemed to avoid that as well. Another figure had blond hair. That had to be Malfoy. Harry wondered briefly why he had not dropped dead when entering the grounds. His perpetual scutum must be very good. But Harry had already known that.
He did not see any red hair. Nor did he see other figures.
He tried to summon his stag and failed.
"Well, I guess we can test Baxter's theory now. Let's see if they are vulnerable." Teddy looked with revulsion at the dementors.
Harry felt relief flood him when he heard apparition cracks all around them. Wizards and witches appeared and soon there was a whole herd of summoned patronus animals. Ron's fox terrier came to his side, followed by Percy's fox. Mc Gonagall had followed his call again and her cat was as fast as any of the others. Molly, Arthur, Penelope, Bill and Fleur, Filius Flitwick, the Potions professor, some older Hogwarts students by the look of it. Even George had come. Seamus and Dean.
Harry raised his own wand and his stag appeared.
They advanced towards the Manor, slowly closing in on the dementors.
Notes:
This is the last cliffhanger, I promise...
Chapter 107: Patronus
Summary:
Dementors close in on the Granger-Malfoy family...
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"They want to be free as well," Colin's whisper had a physical effect on him. It crawled over his skin and left him in goosebumps, shuddering with the sudden cold.
And he had thought seeing all his loved ones in a burning house had been bad.
Draco was catapulted back in time.
He was on the astronomy tower and felt his despair, when his disarming spell had not been blocked, when he tried to goad the old man into killing him, delaying the decision between his own life and that of his mother's and the old man's.
He felt his utter terror when Hermione was brought in by snatchers.
He stared at his family ring turned black.
He watched Voldemort and his death eaters approach Hogwarts, closing in, as all hope was lost.
He doubted his sanity when he was not sure if magic was real or not.
He looked into his father's eyes as he cut him out of the family, expecting the curse to cut his life short.
He stared at a calendar counting the days that were left of the contact ban.
"It's the dementors," Hermione's voice somehow pierced the darkness that had descended on him. He felt her hand pressing his for a blessed moment. Her warmth pulled him back into the present.
"Children, into the van, this is not a drill."
His voice was toppling over. He ran to the van and threw open the side door. He snatched Lizzie and shoved her into the van, not too gently. Meg climbed into the van on her own. Rina had grabbed Robert. All their emergency drills paid off now.
"Hermione, Mother," he shouted. "Everyone in, none of you can do a spell."
Hermione had already ushered the boys towards the van. Their white faces stood out in the oncoming darkness. Neville carried Pansy and the Weaselette helped his mother.
Draco thought he could physically feel the cold of the dementors already reaching to steal the warmth from his body.
"What about you, dad?" Colin stared at him with wide eyes.
Draco cursed his perceptive son. "We can't be sure, dementors cannot open doors, someone has to stay outside and fend them off."
"Give your father your wand," Hermione's voice barely shook.
Draco stared.
"You will break through the scutum and conjure a patronus to save us all." His bloody Gryffindor wife said it, as if it was a given.
Colin solemnly gave him the occamy core wand. "I give you free use of my wand, Draco Lucius Malfoy."
Draco swallowed.
"In, in," Hermione urged their son. The cold was getting uncomfortable and the dementors were closing in. Draco tried to control his shudders.
Neville had lowered Pansy and climbed out again.
"Stay in," Draco hissed.
Neville smiled. "You wish."
He extended his hand and Colin gave him the sword. Draco felt a surge of gratitude.
"Get in, love," he told Hermione, but she shook her head.
"You need me." She took his left hand in hers.
"You bloody Gryffindors," Draco shouted in frustration.
He looked around and saw with terror that there were already dementors at the other side of the van. The scutum on the van held them back, he could hear them hissing. There was no time for arguing with his stubborn wife.
Rina also made as if to climb out again, but stopped when her gaze met Draco's face.
"Show some Slytherin virtues."
He let Hermione's hand drop and shoved his hand into his pocket and grabbed the car key. He threw it to Rina, who caught it from the air.
"When it comes down to it, drive away. The tire might still hold for a little while."
"Safe room rules." Hermione declared, as she pushed the door of the van close.
He held on to Colin's wand in a grip that threatened to snap it. His other hand had found Hermione's again and he shoved her behind him just as the dark shadows attacked from their left.
Neville swung the sword and hacked off the reaching hand of one of the dementors.
Draco fully expected that to be ineffective, but the hand fell away and dissolved.
Some dementors tried to attack from above but the van was just high enough to be a shield. The sword in Neville's hand shone with a silvery light as if of its own. There was barely light that could reflect on the blade. Between the van at their back and Neville in front of them the dementors were held at bay for now.
And yet Draco felt despair creep into his heart. His still wet shirt clung to his body and made him feel like he had suddenly been dropped into an icehouse. Hermione's hand in his felt warm and full of life, but his other hand got colder. His arm felt limp and his thoughts whirled. He couldn't even remember the words for the patronus charm.
Katie Bell died in agony before his eyes.
He bled his life out on the tiles of a bathroom.
"Draco, please" he heard Dumbledore plead just as his killing curse hit the old man.
Voldemort killed his mother for Draco's failures.
He heard his aunt Bellatrix cackle firing curse after curse at Hermione as he watched helplessly.
Hermione died before his eyes at the battle of Hogwarts, the vial with Phoenix Potion he was about to drop on her slipping from his fingers.
His father cursed him, and Hermione jumped in front of him and died.
Potter dragged him away from Hermione and raised his wand to cast sectumsempra.
He heard someone sob and at first, he did not realise that it was him.
Hermione pressed herself to his back. He wanted to turn and sink into her arms, soak all the warmth he could, shut out the terrible images that flooded his mind.
"Draco, you can do this," she said. "We need you."
Vaguely, Draco saw that Neville still swung the sword expertly and went back and forth restlessly to protect him and Hermione.
"I love you, Draco, our children love you. You saw your mother again. Remember how happy we are."
Draco weighed the wand in his hand. Hermione wrapped her arms around him from behind.
"Where is Potter when you need him." That cry of despair had burst out of him and he saw the air leaving his mouth in whisps of white fog. The air was as cold as on a winter night.
He tried to reach his magic. It had been so long, that he barely remembered the feeling of doing a spell.
Neville would at some point become tired. He had already fought and done magic for hours. The dementors would breach his defence. He would die, Hermione would die and with her the tiny sparks of life inside her. Rina might be able to bring everyone else away.
Their children would have to fend for themselves.
One of Hermione's curls tickled his neck.
"Expecto patronum." He pressed out the words.
There was a tiny spark somewhere in his breast. Light the size of a grain of dust.
"Expecto patronum." He concentrated on the tiny spark. His head began to swim, and blinding pain settled on him. Tears sprang to his eyes.
It felt like a migraine. There was a sudden sickening blade digging into right side of his head, and he got the familiar feeling that even the tiniest of movement would cause him to double over in a mixture of nausea and pain. Neville's sword was glaring and pierced his eyes and for a moment he was tempted to let himself fall into the darkness of the circling dementors.
Hermione, the children, his mother, his friends. He would have to claw through this. He didn't see anything. He heard Neville shout something.
"Think about how happy we were, when Colin found your notes." Hermione's voice somehow reached his brain. "Use the ley lines."
He could smell violets, a note of cinnamon under a sharp refreshing lemony overtone, and just a hint of fresh paper. He raised the wand again.
"Expecto patronum." He pushed his way through the relentless wall of his migraine, battering at it, ignoring the excruciating pain.
The backlash threw him into Hermione and to his knees. The tip of the wand began to glow in a silvery light. At first it looked as if the glow hovered, as if it were stuck, pulsing as if it wanted to escape but only did so with the speed of a snail.
There was a beat in the ground, weak, but steady. He tried to align himself to the beat and pushed again, groaning with the exertion, hot tears flowing down his cheeks.
The dam burst.
Suddenly, there was shining silver light that pushed at the darkness of the dementors. Draco's mouth fell open when he saw what he had conjured.
A silver dragon the size of a house flew at the dementors.
Hermione sagged at his side.
Draco's eyes cleared again, the shadow had withdrawn from his view and his mind.
Neville sank to the earth at their side, dropping the sword.
"There is Harry and the right kind of cavalry" he said.
He was right. There were many, many patronus animals, driving the dementors towards his dragon. Draco thought he saw Potter's stag.
The dementors were soon surrounded by the silvery shapes.
The dragon descended on their black forms and picked them up, one by one, closing its enormous jaws around them.
Draco watched in fascination as one after the other of the dark shades vanished. At first he did not realise it, but after the dragon had absorbed about twenty dementors, it became greyer, smaller, until it was barely visible any longer, just a dark shape with small sparks of white the size of a big dog perhaps. Draco could only see it because the daylight finally had resurfaced, and the almost black dragon stood out against the still blue summer sky.
The now small dragon attacked the last dementor that lacked an arm, and when he had opened his jaws, both vanished, patronus and dementor as if none of this had ever happened. One by one the patronus animals of the aurors withdrew as well.
"More than twenty years of pent up magic." Hermione smiled at him through tears. "Love, you're amazing. I think you might have freed them."
"Can you do magic again?" Neville asked.
Draco looked at the wand in his hand, frightened for a moment, that the scutum might have settled again.
"Expecto patronum"
Hermione laughed at the animal that sprang out of the wand.
"A beaver, Draco, a beaver! O just look at its adorable long teeth!"
Notes:
So, this is the last cliff hanger... We're nearing the end.
I hope that the solution of the elves-dementors situation was satisfying. I sure thought a lot about the plot and how it could all come together satisfyingly.
Thanks again to @marydri for reading in advance and thanks to my lovely readers for commenting and leaving kudos and all that.
There will be two epilogues and that is why the chapter count has gone up again!
Chapter 108: Safe room rules
Summary:
The children, Ginny, Pansy and Narcissa sit in the van and fear the outcome of the dementor attack.
Notes:
Today @asexualpuff made character moodboards for all the children (and made my day with these!)
I added them at the end of the chapter. I think it is fitting for this chapter.
So, go visit her tumblr and give her moodboards some love!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was so cold that their breath misted before their mouths and before long the windows of the van were completely blind. Pretty icy flowers covered them. Rina could barely make out the faces of her companions. The darkness pressed on them, and silence settled, interrupted only by heavy breathing. Rina could feel her jaw clench and balled her hands into fists. The car key almost cut into her palm. She felt overwhelmed with the responsibility. She prayed that she would not have to drive the van. On a flat tire.
Aunt Pansy was shivering, and Lizzie angled for the cover that they kept for picnics in the back of the car and tugged her in.
"Huddle close to her, Lizzie, Colin," Rina told them. "We have to keep her warm." She refused to think about the fact that this task might prove to be futile.
The only light was an erratic white flickering light from outside where Uncle Neville, mom and dad stood. It did nothing to reassure Rina. She wondered if it was the sword of Gryffindor.
"Lumos". Meg's wand began to shine. It was no warm light and that might have been the reason why all their faces looked so pale. It felt better though to be able to make them all out.
James and Richard were held by Ginny Potter, Robert sat on Grandmadam's lap and Colin and Lizzie had done as Rina had ordered and rubbed the shivering Pansy.
"Well, done, Meg," Rina told her.
In the light of Meg's wand, she studied the car keys and pressed the button that would close all the doors. The low thud seemed to echo in her head as if a bell were rung.
"So, the scutum on the car does not prevent you from doing magic inside the car." Colin mused. "Interesting."
"I disillusioned myself and Robert on the way here. And I confunded the police officer who had stopped us. Through the open window."
Leave it to Colin and Meg to discuss magical theory in the middle of a crisis.
Rina shook her head. "You only have your wand for, what, a day? And you did a confundus?"
"I was so frightened," Meg confessed. "I had to do something. Dad called me poppet. Poppet! And he left the house, before another adult was there. And then he threw up into the gully beside the van."
"Poppet! That is even worse than 'dear'" Lizzie said.
An awkward tittering followed Lizzie's comment.
"I can relate to throwing up," Richard shuddered. "I'm feeling very, very queasy right now."
"Don't you dare throw up in our van," Colin told him.
"Why is dad not coming?" James Potter's voice sounded as if he were about to start crying. Not that Rina could fault him. She did wish the Head Auror would arrive, and she didn't particularly like the man.
Ginny Potter stroked James' hair. "I am sure, there is a perfectly sound reason why he was delayed."
Her eyes met Rina's and Rina saw, that she was not as certain as she tried to sound.
"I might have an explanation for that," Grandmadam said.
"Please, do tell." They would have to find a way to distract the children. Rina pleaded silently with her grandmother.
"After my husband died and I had trouble with the elves, because I could neither free them nor order them, Prudy came several times and tried to make them come to their senses. They would not listen to her. In the end she told me I had to ward them in before they became subject to the transition."
She shuddered.
"When Colin found out about the elves' curse, Prudy came again and this time she had taken Kreacher with her. But the elves had already gone far beyond any reasoning. Well, you saw them. Kreacher and Prudy argued what could be done about them and about all the dementors. They differed and the discussion got very heated. There was one thing they did agree on though. That Harry Potter should not be allowed to mess up the undoing of the Elves' curse again."
"My dad messed up the undoing of the Elves' curse?" James asked.
"Merlin, James, do you ever listen in class? Remember the day I brought Topsy? Your father tricked my grandfather into freeing Dobby and the elves had to start all over again."
James' pale face suddenly gained a burning colour.
"So, the elves probably prevented Harry from receiving any of the emergency messages." Ginny Potter closed her eyes. "At the very least I can have hope, that Harry is not somewhere on the bottom of the sea around Azkaban."
So, Ginny Potter was certainly not as sanguine as she pretended to be.
"If he destroyed the dementor's anchor in Azkaban as he planned, that might even be the reason why they are here now." She groaned.
"I think they came to the place, where the elves were set free on purpose," Colin said.
"Maybe Uncle Harry gets the messages now, that the elves are free." Richard said. He sounded hopeful.
Again, Ginny Potter's eyes flickered, and Rina saw her own doubt reflected in them.
"Dad will manage." Lizzie sounded unfazed. "You'll see."
Rina bit her lip. Conjuring a patronus was exceptionally difficult. It had taken her almost half a year to learn it. Admittedly, Dawlish had not been the best of teachers.
Grandmadam reached out and pressed Lizzie's shoulders. "I am sure he'll do that. After all, I managed as well, for the first time today, and just because I was very desperate."
Lizzie looked at her in awe. "Really? That swan looked perfect."
Grandmadam smiled. "Thank you. I was thinking about my hope to see my grandchildren and really have time with them, not just on the phone."
Rina peered into her face. If she had not seen her grandmother's face in her visions in the manor, she might not have spotted it. Narcissa had lied. That had not been her first time to conjure a patronus.
"Why don't you tell me something about yourself, children?" Her voice sounded perfectly calm, as if they were not unable to do any magic sitting tightly in a van that barely held them all and all their hope was that either dad could manage to break through his scutum or that Harry bloody Potter would make one of his last minute appearances.
"Or we could ask you!" Meg had become infected by the hope that suddenly seemed to flood all the children.
"Do that."
"Where did dad learn to make the Face? It is you or was it our grandfather?" Lizzie asked.
"The Face?"
"This one." Rina played along. She did her best to look haughty and posh. "Dad's 'how dare you breathe the same air as me, you peasant' face. The one he reserves for the most annoying customers."
The younger children giggled.
Even Colin seemed to relax. "Yes, that one. It's a variant of 'You are speaking with the manager, you twat'."
Grandmadam smiled. "Guilty as charged."
"And where did he learn the 'Child, I don't know if I should throttle you or hug you' face?" Colin asked.
"That is a universal face every parent learns," Ginny Potter chimed in.
"Dad gave me that face when he discovered I had smuggled Robert and me into the van."
"Boom," Robert shouted, making an explosion motion with his hands.
"Where does that come from?" Rina was genuinely curious and for a moment distracted from the darkness around them.
"I destroyed the gates to the grounds, when we arrived." Meg admitted.
Aunt Pansy groaned. "Well, we know what Robert will say for the next few weeks then."
Rina looked at her. She looked feverish, but she was alert. In her eyes she saw the same determination as in her grandmother's face. Don't let the children see her fear.
Rina nodded at her. If they were all to die, it would do no good to have the children frightened in advance.
"Did dad really earn his place in the Slytherin team just because he won the try outs?" Meg wanted to know. "Or did grandfather buy him a place in the team?"
"That is an excellent question, I would be interested as well." Ginny Potter leaned forward.
"I don't know if I even want the answer," Rina said. "Dad and mum might run out of subjects to argue over."
"Alas, I can't answer that. You would have to ask the then captain of the Slytherin team. Only he knows if he read the letter with my husband's generous offer of new brooms before or after the try outs."
"I wouldn't recommend contacting Marcus Flint on any subject." Aunt Pansy said, which earned her a fervent nod by Ginny Potter.
"We Harpies really dodged a bludger, when Flint did not become our manager five years ago."
Lizzie and Meg soon became quite animated with all the questions, and they wanted to know everything, if there really were peacocks in the park of the Manor, if grandmadam had attended any balls in her youth, who had been the DADA teachers in grandmadam's time at Hogwarts.
Grandmadam answered every question patiently, and no flicker gave her fear away. She also bounced Robert on her knee and began to throw the balloon back and forth.
Colin began to fidget, trying to angle himself away from Pansy and to peer out through the windows of the van. Rina laid a hand on his arm and pressed it. When he looked at her, she shook her head, silently pleading with him not to frighten their younger siblings by bringing their dire situation to their attention again.
His lower lip trembled, when he understood, but he nodded.
There was still just a tiny white flicker outside in a sea of vast darkness.
"Why does your father dislike Ricky?" Richard's voice suddenly cut through the lively conversation of Meg, Lizzie and grandmadam.
"What?" Colin's head shot up.
"He said that, when your mother called him. That he had seen my father with his new girlfriend."
"At least they apparently didn't punch each other this time." Aunt Pansy grimaced. "So, Ron's new girlfriend is named Ricky, then?"
"Eurydice" Ginny Potter smiled. "And she's a muggle." Only a strained muscle around her eyes gave her fear away.
"You should have seen Ron introducing her to us. He had so much fun, when everybody assumed, she was a witch because of her name."
"I think, she was fun. Much more fun than Lucretia." Richard insisted.
"Better than Lucretia is such a low bar. Even Luna did not like Lucretia." Pansy joked.
"Are you telling me, that there actually is a person, who does not get along with Luna Zabini?" Grandmadam pretended to be shocked.
"Lucretia was the worst," Richard said with conviction. "Even my mother bitched about her and she usually doesn't say anything against dad's girlfriends."
Ginny Potter sighed. "It's a matter of perspective, Richard. Remember that Ricky told us how she fretted about her cousin's and best friend's wedding and that she wanted everything to be perfect?"
"I can well imagine, that organising every detail, rescheduling, cancelling and readjusting menu choices can be a pain in the ass to the person who does the catering for the wedding."
Rina snorted. "She wrote an email to dad on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve!"
"It's highly unlikely our dads will go on a pub tour with their significant others any time soon, Richard. As long as you don't let Ms. Jensen meddle with your own wedding, you should be fine." Colin's face gave nothing away.
"Or you could show me how you do the 'Colin face', just in case." The corners of Richard's mouth quirked upwards.
"Oh, you mean, that one?" Lizzie arched her left eyebrow minimally and pursed her lips ever so slightly. It was surprisingly accurate.
Colin frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's your 'Nobody should be that stupid' face, when you really try to refrain from saying anything." Rina explained to him and imitated the 'Colin face'. His look was worth it.
Colin looked at her askance. "That's rich coming from you. And you didn't do my face. You did your own 'I will not roll my eyes' face."
Meg giggled, and Rina opened her mouth to retaliate, her fear momentarily forgotten, when the van was suddenly filled with white silvery light.
"Oh, Merlin," Ginny Potter breathed. Suddenly the tension that had been hidden in their collective effort to distract the younger children returned with a vengeance. Rina balled her hands into fists again and this time the car key tore her palm open.
"Dad made it," Lizzie shouted.
"Boom", Robert said, which made Colin laugh for a moment, but he stopped when he looked at Rina.
Rina's fear had her in a firm grip. She wondered whose patronus gave off the light.
The silverly light dimmed slowly and blood rushed through Rina's veins at an alarming speed.
Slowly the silvery light gave way to what appeared to be normal daylight of a summer evening. Rina swallowed. The darkness was gone, but so was the silvery light. She wondered what it meant. The icy flowers on the windows of the van slowly dissolved, but it was still impossible to see through them.
Her heart beat fast and hard in her chest when she heard someone knock at the side door of the van.
"You can open, now!" Was that Uncle Neville's voice?
Richard made a grab for the doorknob, but Rina clamped down on his hand.
"Safe room rules," she barked out.
"Rina, it's me, mum." It sounded like mum's voice.
"Answer the questions," Rina shouted. She felt a drop of blood fall from her hand that held the key.
"Why am I called Rina?"
"That was a miscommunication between your dad and me. Your dad thought Rina was short for Irene, which means 'peace' while I wanted to honour the man who saved dad's life. I just didn't think that Severina would be a good name."
"And Colin?"
"Because FitzWilliam would be child abuse. So, we named him after the actor and not the character." That was dad's voice.
"Lizzie?"
"Lizzie Bennet."
"What about Robert and Meg?"
"That had been Monica's and Wendell's name before your mother obliviated them."
Rina's hand trembled when she pressed the car key. Richard waited for her to nod before he opened the door.
Mum and dad stood there, they really stood there, safe and sound and smiling. Rina began to cry with relief, her vision swam.
She heard Robert laugh in delight.
"Beaver," he shouted. "Dad has a beaver."
Leave it to Robert. This day would go down into family history as the day Robert spoke his first full sentence.