Baby Sunbeam
2nd of October, 1998.
Grimmauld Place was unusually quiet. Raiden was slowly placing food on the table. Conversations were held in pairs. Raiden found it disturbing that everyone gave in to fear so quickly. Skyrim would have fallen to the Thalmor if they acted the way the Order did. Yes, the attack on Hogsmeade was a tragedy. He saw it as what it was. It had been an attack on their way of life. Now it was up to them to defend it. He sat down next to Bill. The twins weren't there and he wasn't surprised. Dumbledore's group didn't seem to grow in numbers very much. People didn't want to believe there was a problem even now.
The twins obviously knew what was going on and Raiden knew that if Harry called them into action they would rise to the occasion. He hoped that wouldn't be needed. The younger generation wasn't joining the Order. Hermione had left the country. Neville wasn't interested in joining the Order. Ron might join once he was an Auror, but for now, he was too busy to think about what might happen.
Raiden met Severus' eyes and shook his head slowly. This was ridiculous. He leaned back. At least Bill just looked concerned and Dora looked like she could use some sleep.
"I know our hearts are heavy," Albus said. "The attack on Hogsmeade hits close to home for many of us." He gave them all a sad grandfatherly look. "I will commend the Aurors. The response was quick and while we lost two brave souls their work was efficient and saved many lives. I believe we have young Mister Moody and the Midnight Brigade is to thank."
Raiden nodded slowly. "We have tried our best to handle response times," he said. "Our people will act before it is needed. We need more people if attacks like these are going to be happening, but that is something we'll deal with."
"Exelent," Albus said. "Unfortunately, the Ministry still will not accept that Voldemort is back. They have decided to mark this off as an anomaly created by the escapees."
"Foolish," Molly said.
"True, but as long as our Auror friends can expand the brigade it doesn't matter," Albus said. "We can still further our goals."
Raiden spaced out. Albus was uninteresting and the Order talked in circles. He guessed he might show back up in the future at some point when something happened. He left with everyone else. He wasn't coming back in a while.
10th of October, 1998.
Leoline tilted his head to the side and squinted. "Why's she so small?" he asked.
Fleur chuckled. "Because she is a newborn dear," she said. "Babies are small. They grow quickly though."
"Good," Leoline said. He walked back to his pens and continued drawing.
"Thank you so much for doing this," Fleur told Harry who was standing by the stove cooking several different dishes so she and Bill would have food for the coming week without having to think about it.
"How is Theia sleeping?" Harry asked.
"Not fantastically but Bill and I sleep in shifts."
"Let me know if both of you need some time off," Harry said.
Fleur smiled. She was sure they would take him up on that offer soon enough. "Mother wrote. She and father seem to be making progress with Chelsea. She smiled at mother. She isn't speaking yet though," she said.
"It will take time," Harry said calmly.
"Mother wondered about Chelsea's magic. She doesn't want the poor girl to turn into an Obscurial."
"Won't be an issue," Harry said. "She doesn't have magic. She does however have magicka. I'll start teaching her when she gets settled. I must have missed telling Apolline that."
"I'll just let her know then," Fleur said.
Bill walked up to Fleur and kissed her as he came home. He lifted little Theia up. "Go get some rest," he said.
"Thank you dear," Fleur said before heading out of the kitchen.
"So how is work?" Harry asked.
"Boring if you compare it to what I'm used to," Bill said. "But the work hours are better and they are talking about adding me to the education roster in a few months. Between that and Theia I feel like I have my hands full."
"You work every other day right now?"
"Yeah, so I can help with Theia and eventually when Fleur feels rested she can work too," Bill said. "We really appreciate that you come over and cook for us like this. Not having to think about what we're going to eat every day is a blessing right now, and you know many of Fleur's favourites."
Harry chuckled. He would have offered them Winky's help if that wasn't considered extremely rude. Not that Winky hadn't cooked things for Bill and Fleur, but she had done so at home for Harry to bring. Just offering an elf's services to someone else's household was demeaning. He had spoken to Wink at length about it just so he wouldn't do something foolish that made her feel bad.
Once he was done with the food he headed outside and Bill followed with a sleeping Theia in her pram and Leoline next to him.
"Dusty," Harry called.
They were working on the portals between Ennerdale and Shell Cottage. Dusty had been surprisingly helpful. House-elves didn't travel the same way that humans did. Harry was also using much of Rhavaniel's work on portals. She had done extensive research on Oblivion Gates during the crisis. She had figured out how to make Nirn-bound portals but had never cared to actually make any. While he could base his own portals on her research and the goblin portals he couldn't just use them since the ambient magic of Nirn and Earth was different and goblins and humans were quite different as well
That's where Dusty came in. House-elves utilised the ambient magics much better than humans did. Despite his dislike of Harry when he had first been taken in. He was now not nearly as against it as he had been. He was paid even. He had found a chest in his room that was slowly filling with gold coins. According to Master Remus that chest contained his salary. He was a paid elf and while he was proud of it, he knew neither his sister nor Winky wanted to talk about it, though. He was fine with that.
Harry pulled out his notebook and went through it. They hadn't gotten anything to work yet, but he was hopeful that they were on the right track.
"So we still don't quite know how House-elves cast their magic," Bill said.
"Same way I can cast magicka," Harry said. "There are differences of course. He is in tune with the magics around him. That's how magicka works too. What I'm trying to figure out now is how he teleports. If I can replicate that then we should be able to get this to work. It will take some testing of course, but we'll figure it out."
Bill shook his head. Sometimes Harry took leaps he could not follow. He knew he'd get an explanation eventually though. He just had to wait.
Dusty bounced around the yard. Showing off just how quiet he could be. "I could be louder too but Miss Theia would wake up, and I don't want that."
"Much appreciated," Bill said. As he watched Harry, he realised that this couldn't be the first time he was studying Dusty. His assumption was confirmed when Harry got up, applied a charm to Theia's pram and stood with his eyes closed.
Leoline was playing across the yard. He was running around happily when suddenly he stopped and smiled up at Harry who had just appeared in front of him. There had been no sound, and when Bill checked for the normal apparition residue, there was none. He wasn't surprised. Harry had an understanding of magic that few seemed to grasp.
"I thought it was better I tried with another adult around," Harry said. "Just in case something went wrong."
"So, can we use this to work the portal?" Bill asked.
Harry nodded slowly. "Teleportation isn't the same as apparition. You move through a sort of grey space. Probably another plane. Now I just need to make sure that the plane we move through isn't dangerous since a portal is far more permanent than teleportation."
Bill shook his head. He wasn't sure he wanted to know how Harry was planning on doing that. He smiled down at his daughter who had woken back up and kicked her blanket off.
"It's snack time I think," Harry said. "Leoline and I will be heading home now."
"See you in a few days," Bill said.
"See you then." Harry took Leoline's hand and teleported them home.
An owl was sitting outside when they arrived. Harry held his arm up and whistled. The owl flew down and landed on him. It held a letter addressed to Raiden. "Thank you," Harry said calmly and the owl flew off. He pocketed the letter and walked inside with Leoline. "Do you want to watch a movie?" he asked.
"Dinosaurs," Leoline said determinedly.
Harry chuckled. The Land Before Time it was then. He guessed he should have known. Not that he minded so much since he had never gotten the chance to watch anything as a child. He got the movie started and settled down with Leoline before fishing the letter out of a pocket and opening it.
Wocher Ray,
Long time since I wrote anything.
Hope you're doin' well.
I would like to meet if that's alright.
Just you and me.
Sincerely,
Tonks
Harry shook his head and snorted. Sometimes Tonks was as blunt as could be. He summoned pen and paper so he could write her a response. He folded the paper over and placed it aside before cuddling down next to Leoline to watch the silly dinosaurs go on adventures and make new friends.
…
Charlie warped his arms around Harry and kissed him. It was late. They had finally managed to get Leoline to bed. Thankfully, Remus would be back from the exhibition the next day.
They broke apart. "Give me a second," Harry said before throwing off his robes and heading into the bathroom.
Charlie picked the robes up and moved them from the bed. An envelope fell out. He wasn't one to read other people's mail, but it was addressed to Raiden Moody. Harry hadn't written that and the letter had no address.
The name sounded familiar. Wasn't the younger Moody also part of the Order? Bill had talked about him.
"You have questions."
Charlie turned around and met Harry's eyes. "Yeah, I guess," he said. "I didn't mean to snoop. It just fell out…"
Harry shrugged. "If I had been really worried about you finding it, I would have destroyed it," he said as he walked up to Charlie and took the envelope. He pulled the letter out and handed it over before disintegrating the envelope.
"Raiden knows Nymphadora Tonks?" Charlie said surprised.
"Raiden knows a whole bunch of people," Harry said. "To understand that I better tell you why he was created." He sat down on the bed. "When I attended my fourth year Alastor Moody was teaching Defence. Except he wasn't Alastor until halfway through the year. By Christmas, I had figured out that the Moody teaching us was actually a Death Eater in disguise. I confronted him with an illusion of Dumbledore and scared him off and found the real Alastor stuffed in a chest. Alastor decided, once he was better and I had told him the whole truth, that Dumbledore needed to know about the impostor. To protect me we made Raiden. Then Raiden helped train Aurors and is now a member of the Order of the Phoenix…"
"Does Bill know?" Charlie asked.
"Including you and me only five people know."
"So Moody…"
"Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour."
"Will Tonks ever know the truth?" Charlie asked.
"Probably not."
"Isn't that a little awkward?"
"I'll just have to build my own relationship with her as Harry. It's not that hard, she's Draco's cousin after all."
Charlie just shook his head. He wasn't sure how Harry managed to keep all of these things separate. "So you're meeting her?" he asked.
"On Saturday," Harry said.
Charlie flopped down on the bed. "Your life is complicated," he said.
"It turned out that way," Harry said. He climbed up so he was straddling Charlie. "It'll get less complicated once Voldemort is gone. I won't need Kato or Raiden after that. I'll be just Harry."
"Sounds good," Charlie said. He grabbed Harry and flipped them around. "Let's not worry about that now." He smirked and Harry reached up to pull him down.
14th of October, 1998.
A sigh left Raiden as he ran his hands through his hair. He didn't want to look like too much effort, but he didn't want to look like no effort. If something bad had happened between Dora and her partner.
Charlie was watching him with amusement playing in his eyes. "Could I join you?" he asked.
"You mean, you want a glamour?" Raiden asked.
"Sure why not? You look troubled. Did you sleep with her?"
"I did and I don't want her to think there could be anything happening between us if she has broken up with her boyfriend."
"Hand me a glamour and let's do this," Charlie said.
Raiden laughed and walked out of the bathroom to grab a ring from his collection of jewellery. Soon enough he'd have to buy things from the goblins just to have something to enchant. "No dragons," he told Charlie.
"Is Quidditch alright?" Charlie asked.
"How is your Romanian?" Raiden countered.
"Good enough to fool someone who doesn't know the language," Charlie responded.
"Then you play over there. Pick a more obscure team," Raiden said as he thought back on people he had known from Skyrim. Ulfric would be the father and Lydia the mother giving Charlie dark almost black hair. His sturdy build stayed though he became somewhat taller. His eyes went from blue to brown and he now spotted a rather impressive well well-groomed beard and moustache
Charlie looked over at the mirror and almost did a double take. The man looking back at him looked nothing like him. Yet somehow it fit perfectly. He wrapped an arm around Raiden. They looked really good together. "Codrin Baciu," Charlie said.
"Cory then," Raiden said. "There is no way I'm using your full name."
Charlie shrugged. He could live with that. He looked after Raiden as clothes were brought out for him to change into. He was surprised by just how organised Harry was with his alters. He could tell now that the closet was split to separate the three from each other. It made sense of course that none of his three alter egos would share clothes. It meant, however, that they now had to be a little inventive with what Cory would wear.
Half an hour later they were finally heading out. They were early to the meetup spot so they spent some time browsing the nearby stores. It was a non-magical area with a wide variety of stores so they had plenty to look at before Tonks arrived.
…
Several charm bracelets jiggled merrily as Tonks walked. She was nervous. Not because she was meeting Ray. She really liked him and he was easy to talk to, but her entire life could change based on what he said. She knew it would ultimately be her decision. He wasn't going to tell her to do anything. Still, his opinion mattered a lot to her.
Her eyes widened as she saw Ray. He wasn't alone. She wasn't that surprised. A guy like Ray wasn't likely to stay single. The man walking next to him looked kind of intimidating. There was something almost predatory in the way he moved.
"Dora, it's so nice to see you again," Ray exclaimed happily as he reached her. He hugged her tightly before pulling away. "This is Cory my boyfriend,"
"Lo," Charlie grunted.
"His English is atrocious," Ray said.
"You talk enough for both of us," Codrin said in Romanian.
Raiden just waved him off. "You wanted to talk?" he said as he looked back at Tonks.
"Yeah, well…" Tonks looked up at Cory somewhat uncomfortably.
"Oh, don't worry," Ray said. He turned to Cory. "Could you entertain yourself for a few hours?" he asked in French.
"Sure," Cory responded in the same language before squeezing Ray's shoulder and heading off.
"His French is better than his English and my Romanian is awful so French it is," Ray said happily. He wrapped an arm around Dora and started walking towards a small cosy café he had seen earlier. He ordered what they wanted and found a nice out-of-the-way table for them. "How are things?" he asked.
Tonks sighed. "I don't know," she said. "We talked about having children some time back, you know. Things have been going well. We both want kids. We haven't started trying yet… He quite clearly doesn't want me to continue as an Auror. He hasn't come right out and said it, but he complains a lot, about my hours, about the danger, and he's really passive-aggressive whenever I say anything negative about my job."
"Have you considered how you want to handle things?" Ray asked. "What's the ideal scenario for you?"
"That I take a tutoring job initially and then a desk job when I get further along," Tonks said. "I want to work after the baby is born, but maybe not right away and I could handle trainees for the first year or so. That's fine, but eventually, I want back at it."
"Have the two of you sat down and talked about this?" Ray asked.
"Not yet," Tonks said.
"You need to decide what your ideal scenario is and then you need to figure out how far you're willing to compromise," Ray said. "You also have to decide what happens if his ideal and yours are so far apart that you can't compromise."
Tonks nodded slowly. "Have you ever considered children?" she asked.
"No," Ray said. "I'm far too busy."
Tonks just smiled. Knowing Ray he was probably right even though she honestly thought he would make a great parent. She sat back and sighed. It felt good talking to someone who could help her get her priorities in order. Her mother was helpful, but too focused on her happiness. Sometimes compromise was good and she needed to get a hold of what she was willing to do. "So what are you up to right now?" she asked.
"Travelling a lot. Cory needs to get back to Romania for the Quidditch season so I might go with him. I'll still get your letters though so don't worry," Ray said.
"We could use you here. The Death Eaters could attack again," Tonks said.
Ray smiled. "I know," he said. "That's why we trained your group. I'm not an Auror. I just help out."
Tonks sighed. "I guess you're right," she said. She took a sip of her tea and looked outside. Maybe things would work out. Maybe a week from now she'd be single. A part of her wished Ray was single. She would have liked to see how that could have turned out. The one that got away… It was such a silly notion. She finished her tea and placed the cup back down.
"Want to go shopping?" Ray asked.
Tonks rubbed her face and took a deep breath. She really wanted to hang out with Ray for a bit longer.
"We could give Cory a makeover. He needs it," Ray said.
Tonks laughed. "I get the feeling he won't appreciate it," she said.
"I doubt he'll mind," Ray said.
"Fine, sure," Tonks said.
…
Charlie dropped his rings in a bowl before looking at the bags on the bed. He couldn't say he regretted the things they had bought. He assumed that he would be able to wear most if not all of it. It wasn't like Cory was going to meander around a lot. As far as Charlie was concerned he might never be seen again. It had been kind of fun though. He could see why Harry did it considering how much attention he got normally.
He wrapped his arms around Harry as he walked in. "Is Tonks going to be alright?" he asked.
"She'll be fine as soon as she has worked through what she wants," Harry said. "Do you want to invite the Black family over for Christmas?"
"Have you spoken to Sirius since the fight?" Charlie asked.
"Nope, but I should get a hold of him and let him know that he's a dumbass," Harry said. "Gently of course I do love him even though he can be a bit of an ass."
Charlie shook his head. "Be nice," he said.
"I will be," Harry said.
18th of October, 1998.
Harry was sitting on a soft carpet with little Theia next to him. A book lay open on the ground, but Theia had fallen asleep so Harry had stopped reading. Charlie came walking in with an owl. "They won't hand it to me," he said, motioning towards the letter.
Harry rose and took the letter as he offered the owl a treat. It was addressed to Raiden. He opened it quickly and read through it. "She broke up with him," he said. "He wouldn't accept that she wanted to continue being an auror. They argued and they both said things they couldn't take back."
Charlie nodded slowly. "You think she needs to see Raiden again?" he asked.
Harry shook his head. "I think we stick to the plan and invite them over for Christmas. She needs some time. Raiden isn't necessarily going to be helpful right now. I will, however, write her a response."
As Harry wrote, Theia woke back up. Charlie bent down and picked her off the floor. "It's strange being away from mom and dad isn't it," he said softly. "Uncle Charlie and Uncle Harry are here though so don't worry."
Harry chuckled as Charlie continued talking while heading out to the kitchen. Winky handed him a bottle and he fed Theia. He certainly wouldn't mind having a child of his own. He looked over at Harry. Maybe they should marry first though. He already had the ring. He just wasn't sure when it was a good time to ask. Maybe at the Christmas get-together… he could always ask Bill and Fleur.
Theia finished her bottle and they headed back to the living room and settled down. Harry picked the book back up and continued reading.
As he read, Charlie and Theia slowly fell asleep.
