Chapter 29 - Sometimes life changes your story

December 25, 2005

Jane outdid herself cooking Christmas Dinner, which also happened to be the first night of Hanukkah this year. She and Joel sequestered themselves in the kitchen after George and Isabel, along with Lina and Sirius, finished their breakfast clean up duties. For hours there was loud music and a great deal of chatter and laughter from the pair as they prepared dishes to celebrate the Festival of Lights.

Everyone gathered around the large table in the dining hall as the sun began to set. Jane stood at her place in a white headscarf, Hawthorne beside her, a kippah covering his balding head, and Joel on her other side, his kippah perched somewhat more precariously on top of his mop of black curls. Isabel had changed all of the red ribbon festooning the garland and trees to blue, and the fairy lights winking overhead glinted off the simple silver menorah sitting on the table.

"This isn't super traditional," Jane grinned. "My ma's probably spinning in her grave. But I'm…" She paused and cleared her throat, her accent becoming heavier as she continued. "I'm so thankful we can all be together. We've celebrated with some of you at different times, but it's really special for me that my son," she reached over wrapped an arm around Joel, "and the whole rest of this crazy family could be together for this first night. Now, who would like to tell everyone the story of the first Hanukkah?"

"Me!" Leo shouted, jumping from his seat. "Once upon a time there was a really bad king."

"Antiochus Epiphanes," added Ana.

"I'm telling it!" Leo cried, instantly outraged. Remus laid a hand on his daughter's arm and gave her a look. Scowling, Leo turned back towards Jane. "And he didn't like your people and so he said you couldn't go to the temple anymore, or read your stories, or have sh…shrubs…what's it called?"

"Shabbat," Jane whispered, winking at him.

"Yeah, Shabbat. And the bad king's army went in the temple and smashed everything up and your people got really mad. And this guy, called Judah, he was kind of like Captain America, only not from America 'cause this was a long time ago. And he had a nickname, they called him Judah Maccabee, 'cause that means hammer, and he was hammering all the bad soldiers!" Leo slammed his fist down on the table for emphasis, rattling the china.

Somewhere along the table there was a quick snort of laughter covered up. "So, like I said, everything in the temple was smashed up. And Judah chased away the bad king's army, but now they had to clean up the mess, and light the special lamps, 'cause the Creator doesn't like things to be all dark, I guess. So they lit the special lamps, but the lamp had to burn for eight days. And they didn't have enough oil for it to burn that long, and I guess they didn't know how to catch fairies like Isabel. But…" He paused to take a deep breath, "the lamp stayed lit for the whole eight days!"

"That's right," Jane cut in quickly. "That was the miracle. And so when we celebrate Hanukkah we light candles for eight nights, to remember the Creator's provision, even in very dark times." She paused, and glanced at her son, giving him a nod. "Joel is going to recite the blessings," she added, "and then light the candles."

Joel smiled, and began reciting in his rich, baritone voice, "Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tsivanu l'hadlik ner shel Hanukkah." A hush fell over the room, as he spoke. Most of the people around the table had participated in the ceremony several times, but there was something close to magic about the way the words tripped and danced over his tongue, as they blessed the real hero of the ancient story. "Baruch atah, Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, she-asah nisim la'avoteinu bayamim hahem bazman hazeh. Baruch atah Adonai, elohenu melech ha'olam, shehecheyanu, v'kiyimanu, v'higiyanu lazman hazeh."

Using his wand, he lit the center candle on the menorah and removed it to light the single candle at the end. Then he grinned and spread his hands wide. "And now we celebrate as all good people of the world celebrate, with food!" He and Jane summoned in plates and platters and bowls of a mind-numbing variety, the table all but groaning as it was laden with options.

Nana sighed happily. "Jane, I will say, Lois and I have sorely missed your cooking. We appreciate all the care packages you send, don't get me wrong, but straight from the cook herself, well…" She kissed her fingertips and then dug in.

"Where did you learn to speak like that?" Gemma whispered to Joel, who was sitting beside her. "It was really beautiful."

"We have to go to Hebrew classes," he murmured. "But my dad's mom, my Safta, is from Israel, so she helped me with my accent and taught me some more stuff." He glanced over at Jane and lowered his voice even further. "It was mostly stuff I'm not supposed to say," he added and winked. "She's a spicy old lady."

They sat around the table, eating and talking and laughing for almost two hours. The younger kids had long since rebelled and left their seats, playing with some of their new Christmas presents. Finally the magic users all pitched in to make the quickest work possible of the clean up, and the table was moved into a different configuration for board games or more conversation.

"Yes! Kieran, time for the trivia game!" Isabel called, opening up a couple different boxes. "Who's playing?" The pack had created this game years ago, mixing trivia cards from Muggle and wizarding board games. Obviously the non-magic cards stayed the same, and were by now primarily representing the sort of general knowledge that was common thirty years earlier, but the wizarding ones updated and changed depending on the wizards playing. Kieran was the current No-Maj question expert, but Catherine had a knack for remembering the answers to questions that had come up in previous games, and by this point had learned most of the cards, so they were always on opposite teams. George and Artemis were tops at the more recent wizarding questions, while Hawthorne and Nana handled the older facts, so they were always split up as well. Teams were intentionally mixed so those raised in the wizarding world and those raised outside of it had to work together. There was always a lot of shouting and talking over each other and laughing, all agreeing the game tied with the snowball fight as a highlight of the season.

Most of the group grabbed chairs and joined Isabel, but Grams poured herself a fresh cup of coffee and hobbled over to the fireplace, grabbing Gareth by the sleeve as she passed him, pulling him along with her. "There's a storm comin' tomorrow and Artemis and her family will need to leave early. So you need to talk to that catalyst tonight. Sit on down here, and I'll fetch her. You need a cup of coffee?"

Gareth groaned. "Fine, but you sit down. I'll find Lina. And yes, I will definitely need coffee."

"You need to learn to drink it straight," she scolded. "All that cream and sugar…"

She made a disapproving sound as she lowered herself into the rocking chair.

Gareth shook his head and turned to find Lina, letting out a sigh and trying to get his tension under control. You listen to people and take their ideas under advisement and discuss things in teams all the time. You're just irritated because she's presumptive about things. Get a grip. He scanned the room and spotted her and Sirius talking to Artemis and Remus. Clearing his throat as he came near, she glanced at him expectantly. "Hey, Grams says there's a storm blowing in tomorrow, so you guys should probably all try to leave a little early, and we ought to hash things out before then."

"Yeah, sure thing," she nodded.

He gestured toward the fireplace. "I think Grams is planning to sit in on the discussion. I'm going to grab Deirdre also."

Remus shifted on his feet, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Artemis elbowed him. "You can go too," she said, smiling. "We all know you're going to fret about it until you know exactly what's planned."

"I just feel like Deirdre needs a…a representative," he said, smiling a little sheepishly at Gareth.

"No, that's great. I appreciate it," he said sincerely. "I sure don't want her railroaded into anything."

"I don't railroad people," Lina said exasperatedly. The others just looked at her. "Unless it's necessary," she grumbled, making a face. Then she turned and stalked off toward the chairs near the fireplace, Remus following.

Gareth went to grab Deirdre away from his sisters, whispering a quick explanation. She nodded, looking a little nervous, but straightened her shoulders and walked over. He swung by the kitchen to fill a tray with pots of tea and coffee and cups, and headed back. Grams was sharing about her early days on the res, the first No-Maj to be sent out to live on a reservation. "And if I didn't think I was going crazy at first! Catching glimpses of these wolves out of the corner of my eye and hearing whispers. It was a good thing all those whispers were just straight Scripture, or I never would have listened! I'd been reading the good book since I was old enough to sound out the words. I was a school teacher once upon a time, you know." She rocked steadily in her chair, her face soft and thoughtful. "But now's not the time for reminiscin'," she said, taking on a severe expression. She clearly would not have put up with any miscreants in her classroom. "Y'all sort out your differences," she said, waving her hand between Gareth and Lina, and then took a noisy slurp of her coffee.

Gareth cleared his throat, running his hands over his knees. Pretend it's a board meeting. We're thinking long-term here, don't get over emotional. These decisions affect your company and your life. "Right. So, I agree, we need to have a plan to teach Deirdre what she needs to know and make sure that she's safe." Lina nodded, and he took a deep breath. "I do not agree that you should have your own plants inside my company that I do not know about. But I think that is the easiest to resolve. I will officially hire you to run an internal security service. You can still pick the people, they can report to you, and you can keep tabs on all the things. But I will know which people are yours and where they are assigned, and you inform me of anything that you are keeping your eye on. Is that agreeable?"

Remus was impressed with Gareth's opening statement. It was well-thought out and articulated, and his voice grew more direct and commanding as he spoke, but there was still a…a softness of a kind there. Humility maybe, or concern because the subject was so personal? He wasn't sure yet. Remus watched Lina curiously. She was harder to read, her face impassive and eyes focused on her opponent.

After a long moment she nodded. "That is reasonable," she said, pulling out a notebook and flipping through the pages to begin scribbling. Then she stopped and looked straight at Gareth again. "And I apologise if I over-stepped. For the most part you and Maria run a tight ship." She immediately looked down at her notebook again, and missed Gareth's small smile. "Now, regarding Deirdre, I have an idea that I think might smooth the road a bit, though it will still be a lot of hard work."

She flipped a page over and studied it, tapping a long, slim finger on the edge of the notebook. "We give her what you already had, a connection to a pureblood family."

Deirdre frowned. "How are you going to do that?"

Lina looked up at her, and paused before she spoke. Remus guessed she was trying to gauge her reaction, anticipate any hurdles before they arose. "Design a new identity. New family, new childhood. I rewrite your life, the way I've rewritten the others."

Remus let out a breath and ran a hand over his mustache. That was a lot. Thanks to Lina's behind the scenes machinations, officially Oscar and Rosa had adopted the orphans at the end of the first war and kept their family life quiet and sheltered. But the rest of their family assumed that they had educated and trained up the children to run a corporation and take their places as members of a large and well-connected pureblood wizarding family, not live out their days farming a patch of earth in upstate New York never interacting with more than a dozen other people in their lives. Gareth had kept an exhausting schedule as he studied and memorized countless facts and names and places preparing to go to Peru, and his story was still reasonably close to the truth.

"That…that seems a bit more complicated that just trying to learn Spanish and which fork to use at a banquet," Deirdre said anxiously, twisting her hands together. "Aren't there loads of records and things showing how all those families are connected? Where would I fit?"

"Oh, I can handle records," Lina said dismissively. "And really, once a branch of a family marries someone whose a halfblood or Muggle, they stop keeping track as closely."

Deirdre still looked very uncertain, but Remus was starting to be convinced. "Which family would you use?" he asked. "Not that I suppose it really matters, I'm just curious."

Lina gave him a half smile. "Sirius offered to claim Deirdre as an illegitimate child from his wild youth, but I think that would draw more attention than is necessary or wise. I will have to look through some things in London before we decide."

Grams let out a loud chortle. "Land sakes! Can you imagine the headline? Love Child of Wrongfully Convicted Mass Murderer Sirius Black Dating South American Billionaire. The poor girl would never have a moment's peace!"

"Please tell him it was kind to offer," Deirdre added, glancing over at Sirius. He was currently standing up and pantomiming something, trying to get his team to guess the answer on his card, while George shouted at him that this wasn't a game of charades. "But maybe there's someone a little more…obscure?"

"Yes, indeed," Grams announced, rocking her chair steadily. "Your Alec McIntyre is related to…" She paused and cocked her head like a bird, listening to something far off. "Ah, the Selwyn family." She nodded her head towards Lina. "You write that down."

Lina arched her brow, but obeyed. "If that's the case, it will be a fairly simple paperwork adjustment, since you were pretty well erased after the war when we discovered your mother had died."

Gareth looked at Deirdre in astonishment. "You never said you were going to look for her. After the war, when I asked, you said you didn't know what had happened to her after you ran away, that you thought things were better left as they were."

She pulled into herself slightly shrugging her shoulders. "I didn't plan to, it just sort of came up when Lina offered to…to change anything I wanted. I said I wanted Alec's last name. She found out that my mum had died while she was messing about with all that."

"I'm sorry you had to find out so unexpectedly," he said softly, covering her hand with his. "Do you know what happened?"

Deidre gave him a sad sort of smile. "She overdosed."

Gareth let out a breath. "I'm sorry I put you through that again," he muttered.

"You wanted to change," she said, squeezing his hand. "She just couldn't cope with life. Never could. I didn't even realize how chaotic my life was until after I was a werewolf and started being around more normal people." She gave an unamused laugh. "So I can keep my name, and then what?" she asked, looking back at Lina. "Do I learn about Alec's family?"

"Yes, that's where we'll start. I also have someone in mind to act as your personal assistant, to help you learn everything. Her name is Nela DeSilva, Brazilian. She's on a job in Milan right now, but will be available in a couple weeks, and then we can get to work in earnest."

"What sort of a timeline are you working from?" Gareth asked, his face getting a bit red. "I mean, I don't want to rush you, but I also don't want things to drag on…" He hesitated, then spread his hands pleadingly. "If I'm following your thinking, we have to establish Deirdre as a…a—"

"More well-connected squib," Lina said flatly. "Yes, and if what you're really asking is how long will it be before you can publicly date her, I'd say you're looking at a minimum of two months."

"Two months?!" he echoed, the disappointment obvious.

"Yes, and be glad it will still work for you to have met her during the war and I don't have to contrive a way to introduce you."

Remus raked a hand through his hair. "This is all a bit dizzying, honestly. Are you saying it's better for them to avoid each other at this point?" Based on how they'd been interacting since he'd arrived in Lima he thought it highly improbable that they'd be willing to keep that much distance between them.

Lina sighed. "I know it can feel overwhelming. And I'm not saying you can't see each other, but you will have to be careful." She arched a thin eyebrow at Gareth. "You've been splashed all over the gossip columns before, you don't want to go through that again."

Gareth winced. "Right." He looked at Deirdre, still holding tightly to his hand. "Are you okay with all this? Honestly? Because I can walk into my office tomorrow and hand in my resignation."

She shook her head, her expressing hardening. "No. I can do this."

A shadow of a smile crossed Lina's face. "Now, I do think it reasonable for you two to be present at a few of the same events over the next two months. It will make your dating relationship more believable than her just appearing out of nowhere." The pair of them nodded. "But," Lina added wryly, "you can't behave as if you've already been snogging her face off."

"Yes, you two need to watch that," Grams scolded. "I must have heard from six different people that you two were canoodling out where anybody could see you."

Deirdre's face was instantly splotched bright red. Gareth rolled his eyes. "Canoodling? For Pete's sake, Grams, I'm nearly thirty years old! Would you rather we be sequestered in a bedroom somewhere?"

Grams looked like thunder and reached out to smack his knee. "Don't you sass me! Try that again, and you will be writing lines and chopping wood! Age is irrelevant when you're talking about integrity!"

"Sorry," Gareth said, taking a deep breath. "Truly, I didn't mean any disrespect. I'm just…trying. Okay? I'm trying to do this all the right way."

Remus covered his mouth to hide his smile at the younger pair's embarrassed faces and cleared his throat. "How about Harry's gala on New Year's Day as a start?" he suggested, trying to direct the conversation back. "Most of us already attend and no language barrier, so it should be a fairly safe place for Deirdre to practice being introduced to people and mingling with more of wizarding society."

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Lina nodded approvingly. "Severus and I can work with her this next week, and I'll help her find a dress. I have scads, I'm sure one will work."

"Okay," Deidre said in a small voice.

Lina leaned forward skewering Deirdre with a look. "I don't take on jobs I think will fail. You'll be brilliant. And you still have a couple days to just be together here before we get started. So try not to worry," she added reassuringly, "I'm very good at what I do."

"Why don't you two go join the games and forget about all this for the night?" Remus said quietly, patting Deirdre's arm and giving her an encouraging smile. The pair of them might be almost thirty, but they seemed very young to him at the moment, uncertainty written over both their faces. They left the fireside, hand in hand, each getting grabbed by opposite teams, trying to eke out a victory in what was a very tight competition.

"Thanks for sorting it all out," Remus sighed, settling back in the chair. "And I'm depending on you to keep close tabs on all of it. I don't want to see her swallowed up by all this…this reconstruction of her life."

Lina nodded. "I'll oversee everything personally. It makes a change from chasing villains."

"Well, if I can help in any way, just ask."

"You've got them started down a good path, Miss Catalyst," Grams said assuredly.

"It seems to me that you could probably save us all a lot of time and trouble by just sharing everything you know up front," Lina comment dryly.

Grams laughed, a hoarse, grating sound. "You don't pay attention," she chided, shaking her finger. "I only know what I'm told, and I sure don't know everything. Part of the fun of life is watching for the surprises!"

Remus caught Lina's eye and shook his head. He'd had enough surprises to last two lifetimes, and would be much happier if his life continued down a nice boring path for the next few decades.