"Now" Lady Harfang swallowed around her mouthful of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey, "What, in the name of Mabuka, is this all about?" She bit out, impatiently as she fingered the rim of her half-drunken glass.
"I imagine some of this—most of this story—will be incredibly difficult to believe—" Lily swallowed thickly as she began, tension & anticipation heavy in the air.
"—Personally, I'm still not sure if I believe it" James muttered under his breath. "And I was there when we found all this out"
"However" The redhead continued, sparing a glare at her husband. "I—we—have the results of a Lineage Test with us, and there is also the portrait of Headmaster Black who is more to willing to back up our story" She paused, eyeing up the former Lady of the House as she tried to gauge her thoughts from the hard lines of the elder witch's expectant expression.
"Well?" Lady Harfang urged, "Go on"
"According to what we've found, our ward Jean Granger, is a descendant of the Dagworth-Granger line" Lily licked her lips, suddenly hesitant to spit out what they'd translated from the diary. Saying it aloud suddenly made it seem real. "She's a muggleborn, born to a generational squib, and…"
"And?" Lady Harfang prompted, becoming impatient. "If your ward is a muggleborn—House descendant or not—why all of this nonsense? Why all of the secrecy? Would you just spit it out, already?"
Lily looked to James for help. "And" James cleared his throat, picking up the silent cue from his wife, "She's a time traveller. From 1998"
"1998?!" Lady Augustus choked out, her wide-eyed gaze darting back & forth between the Potters. "Good Godric, boy! Do you honestly expect us to believe that—that poppycock?"
Next to her, Lady Harfang's expression was hard. Her lips had become pursed in thought and her long nails tapped rhythmically against the side of her glass, as she tried to puzzle out their aim. Eventually, she locked eyes with their guests and said, "Prove it"
Lily shared another questioning and anxious glance with her husband, who nodded only once, his own face set into an expression of rare seriousness. It was the kind that had only ever been seen on the job as an auror, and occasionally, when their duties as Head Boy & Head Girl stepped outside of the norm. Like that time he'd come back to their shared dorm, fuming, and damn-near drowned himself in the shower because of something that had happened in the dungeons with a couple of Ravenclaws. He still refused to talk about it, but Lily had been able to parse enough together that it had been bad.
As for today, their "proof" was a bit hit and miss; a single scroll of parchment that they had managed to find tucked away in the recesses of Jean's neverending bag. The ends were wrapped in delicate strings of yew and a single stamp of wax still hung from one end; but it was the contents of the ivory scroll that they hoped would be enough to—at the very least—gain their attention. The redhead hesitated a moment before she handed it over, her breath caught in her throat as she mentally crossed her fingers. They could only hope that this would be enough to at least get the ball rolling.
Lady Harfang silently accepted the scroll with a raised brow, before she carefully swept aside a couple of glasses and unfurled it across the tabletop; allowing the other mages to read over her shoulder. And when she did, there was an audible intake of breath as that disbelief gave way to apprehension.
By the blessings of the Unseelie Court,
Professor Neville Longbottom
and
Madam Hannah Abbott
Hereby, request the pleasure of your company on 1 February 2013
As they exchange their vows, at three o'clock in the afternoon.
Longbottom Castle
Castle Court, Unseelie Baron Estate
Devon, West Country
Dinner, dancing & merriment to follow!
RSVP by 28/07/12
RECEPTION
The reception will be held at the following venue:
Western Conservatory, Longbottom Gardens
TRANSPORT
Floo fireplaces and group portkeys will be provided to guests travelling to & from the wedding ceremony, and the reception.
For more details, please owl us.
ACCOMODATION
Rooms have been reserved for the family of the bride & groom within Longbottom Castle.
Other guests are directed to the rooms reserved under the Longbottom name, at The Leaky Cauldron, in Diagon Alley.
Please mention the Longbottom-Abbott wedding to be assigned to your rooms and to receive special wake-up calls.
RVSP
Please fill out the attached slip below by 28 July 2012
Or owl us at:
Longbottom Castle
Castle Court, Unseelie Baron Estate
Devon, West Country
May we be bound together in love & happiness,
Seven switches of yew, seven times knotted,
Bound 'til Ouroboros lets go of his tail
And there, at the end or the invitation, was a neat little portrait of the happy couple: an adult Neville Longbottom and his soon-to-be wife, Hannah Abbott. It was clear from that tiny little portrait—even as they smiled & waved at the camera as enchanted photos were wont to do—that they had seen their fair share of troubles too. That vicious scar across Neville's face, being the most prominent one.
Lady Harfang was the first one to put the scroll down, after rereading it several times over. "I—I see" She seemed a little caught off-guard by the idea that her grandson—the one that was currently only three years old—had not only seen hard times, but had survived long enough to become both a professor and a husband. "That was very Slytherin of you, using something so close to home, to convince us"
"What can I say?" James shrugged, that ever familiar boyish smile on his face, "It runs in the family" He grinned, referring to how his Great Grandmother, Dorea—the one who'd been well-travelled—had once been a Slytherin.
"So again, dare I ask" Lady Harfang heaved a sigh, "What has Tom Riddle got to do with this Jean-child of yours?"
Lily licked her lips. "From what we've found so far, we think that she might know a way to end the war"
"End the—?!" Lady Augustus jerked upright in her seat, eyes wide and palms flat against the table. Again, she turned to her elder sister for support, only to find the elder witch looking particularly intrigued by what they had yet to say. "Sister, you cannot seriously be considering this—this elaborate hoax, can you?! Are you honestly buying this?!"
"To be fair, Gus, it would explain their sudden turnaround in behaviour. I mean, when has a Potter ever been neutral?" Lady Harfang acquiesced as she hummed in thought. "That's damn near unheard of! Your lot are almost always the first to go to battle" She nodded towards the bespectacled wizard who nodded in agreement. Potters—like most Gryffindors—were pretty gung-ho about that kind of thing.
"But sister, how can you be so sure that they're telling the truth?" Lady Augustus implored.
"I can't" Lady Harfang replied.
"Pardon?"
"I can't, for sure, say whether or not I am overly surprised at your reaction, considering these new circumstances" Lady Harfang extrapolated. "Afterall, Potters are also the first to take in strays, as I'm sure you well, know, Gus"
Lady Augustus suddenly went quiet as her eyes darted towards the table, cheeks flush beneath that taxidermied hat. "I—I don't know what you're talking about" She mumbled, glaring at her sister from beneath the brim of her hat as she silently told her to shut up.
"No?" Lady Harfang grinned wickedly, as she leered towards her sister. Her chin sat propped up in her hand and utter smugness dripped from her tongue. It seemed that no matter your age, the rivalry & bond between siblings never truly went away. "Then what was that whole ordeal about your tryst with a one, Mr Henry Potter—?"
"S-Sister!" Lady Augustus spluttered, aghast, as she flushed a brilliant red at the reminder.
James, meanwhile, found himself resolutely staring at the tabletop as he tried not to picture his grandfather doing…those kinds of things with his grandmother or…anyone, really. Lily, on the other hand, could only swallow her shit-eating grin at his predicament, as she watched from the corner of her eyes. Not that she envied him. That was not the kind of thing that anyone really wanted to imagine; their grandparents getting it on like two rabbits on a summer night.
"—Then again, a time travelling child would not have been my first guess" Lady Harfang continued, mindless of the mental bomb she'd just dropped. "What about you, Andromeda? You've been rather quiet; any words that you'd like to add?"
"…I—I' still trying to wrap my head around the 1998 thing" Andromeda mumbled, staring down at her half-drunken glass like it held the answers to the universe.
"So, are you sure that she's a time traveller?" Ted asked as he sat back in his chair.
"Yes" Lily replied.
"And there's nothing sinister afoot in that general area?" He pursued.
The redhead narrowed her eyes at the healer. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, has there been any signs of paradoxes? What about missing people? Missing memories? New memories that shouldn't have been there?"
"I don't think so" Lily mused, thinking over the last couple of years since Jean's arrival. "But I'm not sure"
"Yes, well, even if there had been something like that" Ted continued, "I'm not really sure how you would know if they were supposed to be there or not…Perhaps…mm…perhaps, if you had stored the memories prior to her arrival? We could've viewed them through a pensive"
"Yeah, maybe" Lily nodded in agreement, slightly put-out that they didn't think of that sooner.
"Ted?" Andromeda sat up, "Ted how are you the most knowledgable about this? You're both muggleborn!"
"Well, yes" Ted acquiesced with a nod. "But the muggles have had theories about time travel for years, so the ideas are nothing new. The practise is, for sure, but the theory?" He shrugged. "I mean, take Dr Who, for example; that telly show is rife with theories—!"
"—That's exactly what I said!" Lily exclaimed, excitedly pointing to the potbellied man. "But all of those shows that have the protagonist time travel, do it for a reason. I'm not so sure that we can say the same here without translating the rest of these pages. I mean, if there was a reason, surely Jean would've spoken up by now? Asked for help or something?"
"Unless she thinks that telling you would be detrimental to the timeline?" Ted proffered. "And you said that there might be a way to end the war…in there?" He nodded to the diary under her hand.
"We think so" Lily nodded, "At least, from the few pages we have managed to translate. Luxembourgish isn't really my speciality. But James knows enough French to make out a few words here and there"
"I see" Ted hummed, lips pursed in thought. "So, the next question you've got to ask yourself is: why?"
Lily's brows furrowed in puzzlement. "Why?"
"If Jean does have a way to end the war, why did she come back? Was it intentional or a fluke? And what does she plan to do now?" He explained, "If there's a way to return her to her time, how would you go about it? If she's truly got a way to stop the war, would you send her back? And, even if she did return, how much would've changed since she left and how much would still be the same? Would she even survive the return trip? And even if you did send her back, what would have to be corrected thanks to her little trip? But going by that case with Madam Mintumble, that seems like an undesirable option"
"All questions that we need to be answered" Lily nodded in agreement. "But there's still some background stuff that we need to nail down too, because if she did come back intentionally to stop the war, then we need to find out what that is and how to do it. I mean, what if she makes things worse?"
"Or—and I'm just playing devil's advocate here—what if she makes things better? Have you considered that? Because—from the sounds of it—whatever is in that diary, it sounds pretty dire"
"I s'pose…" Lily mused, nodding in agreement as she picked up his line of thought.
Sometimes it was just nice to bounce idea like this off of someone who actually knew what they were talking about, instead of having to explain every single little thing. The red head loved her husband and his friends, she did, but sometimes it got exhausting having to explain the nuances of muggle slang and terminology. Then again, they probably felt the same way when explaining the magical side of things, to her, so she supposed they were even.
Off to the side, the witches appeared to be a combination of flabbergasted that the two muggleborns were not only following along with that line of thinking, but actively carrying on a somewhat scientific conversation about the whole thing. Afterall, time travel was a relatively new practise in the Wizarding World and all of it was locked up tight in the Department of Mysteries; particularly after that whole Eloise Mintumble debacle. James seemed to agree, going by the fact that his expression had transformed from mortified at the idea that his grandfather had fooled around with Lady Augustus to slack-jawed at how easily the two muggleborns were swapping theories on something as complicated as time travel. And just a teensy bit aroused.