Chapter 62
AN: I am SOO sorry about the delay in this chapter, I have been busy and had some time where I struggled to write. I really hope it doesn't take me as long to get the next chapter out. I appreciate every single one of you who read and support this story.
A Few days have passed since Mie met with Crouch and so far, there has been no hint about whether her worlds had any effect. Ever since meeting with Crouch Mie has once again gone down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out how to send the books to an early point in her timeline. Due to how focused she has been Mie hasn't even realised that she has been heled up in her attic room for several days.
As they are extremely worried about her Mie's friends, with the exception of the Bones's triplets who have gone to visit extended family, are standing together at the foot of the stairs.
"She hasn't left for days," Mary says worried. "I don't think she has slept," Mary admits.
"Mie doesn't sleep much," Remus points out, though there is some concern in his voice.
"This is more than that," Emmaline says. "Whatever she is doing, it seems like she is obsessed with it," Emmaline explains to the others.
"She probably is," Severus admits, as that would not surprise him.
"Even if she is one of us should go talk to her," Marlene says. "And probably one of us who know everything," Marlene assumes.
"We should, Amy would be the first up there," Frank realises.
"I'll go," Sirius says, feeling that he owes that to Mie.
"That's probably a good idea," Remus confirms and Sirius nods and heads upstairs.
After leaving the others Sirius heads straight to the attic and because the door is open, he just walks in, but pauses on the doorway where he sees Mie sitting on her bed, which is covered in books, and using pens to write in muggle notebooks.
"Mie?" Sirius asks, not wanting to shock her too badly as he knows that if he shocks her, he risks the possibility of being cursed.
"Hi Siri, you need something?" Mie asks, not looking up from what she is doing.
"No, I'm just a little worried," Sirius says, walking over to Mie. "You've been up here for days," Sirius explains.
"It hasn't been days," Mie says as Sirius sits down on Mie's bed, being careful not to sit on one of her books.
"Amy, Edgar and Isaac have been gone for three days, you've been up here since we said goodbye," Sirius tells Mie.
"I have?" Mie asks surprised, as she didn't realise that.
"You have," Sirius confirms. "So, what's got you so obsessed?" Sirius asks.
"I'm not…" Mie starts to say, but then she sees the look Sirius is giving her. "Okay, maybe I'm a little obsessed," Mie admits, realising that there is no point in arguing.
"I'd say more than a little," Sirius corrects. "What are you working on?" Sirius asks curious as he knows that there are very few things that could make Mie so obsessed.
"How to send the books to an earlier point in the timeline I'm from," Mie explains to Sirius.
"Don't you just have to alter the spell used to bring you here?" Sirius asks, as that's what he assumed.
"No, it can't work like that," Mie admits. "To come here I just timed travelled, creating a new timeline started when we decided to change things, which is why I had to stay here, because the spell I used couldn't allow me to cross universes," Mie tells Sirius. "To change things early in the timeline I'm from timelines have to be crossed, I have to send the information to a different universe," Mie explains to Sirius, who frowns.
"Is that even possible?" Sirius asks curious, as he never thought like it like that.
"I think so," Mie admits, as everything she is reading tells her that it is possible, though it might be incredibly difficult, and potentially dangerous. "It's going to be complicated, potentially dangerous, and I'm still working on figuring everything out, but I think the key would be taking those who are reading out of their timeline, and it might be necessary to take us out to, so that we can be anchored to each other in a different place," Mie explains to Sirius.
"That sounds incredibly complicated," Sirius says, not completely sure that that would be possible, though he knows that if it was possible then it would be incredible.
"It is," Mie admits. "But I do think it's possible," Mie admits. "I'm also working on who to include in the readings and when to have them join," Mie explains to Sirius.
"When to have them join?" Sirius asks curious.
"Yeah, I was thinking that I'd make it so that there is a group of people who are apart of the readings from the beginning, but then have other people join at different points," Mie admits. "It might seem random for those reading, but for the most part people other people would be joining at very specific points during the reading," Mie explains to Sirius.
"What do you mean for the most part?" Sirius asks curious, and Mie starts to search through the papers that are covering her bed.
"Have a look," Mie says, after finding the right piece of paper and handing to Sirius. "See, people like Narcissa, and Emmy I've picked specific points for them to be included, but then it would be best for Uncle Ab and Amelia to join at points in the reading when they're needed the most," Mie explains to Sirius.
"Huh, interesting idea," Sirius admits, realising that doing it like that would make a lot of sense.
"You don't think it's a good idea," Mie realises.
"I'm not sure," Sirius admits, as he knows that could be very complicated. "But I do have to ask why Molly's down to be included from the beginning; considering what she did," Sirius says to Mie as that is something he doesn't understand.
"That's exactly why I want her to be included," Mie tells Sirius. "I think I won't be just sending the books back, but information, I'm not sure of the form yet, of what we went through when reading them," Mie explains to Sirius. "That means eventually they will find out what she did to me, but before then I want to allow everyone opportunities to see the real her, see how manipulative she can be, allow everyone to see just what she is willing to do and how she will treat people she doesn't agree with," Mie explains to Sirius.
"By everyone you mean Harry," Sirius realises.
"I would be lying if my key motivation would be opening Harry's eyes, but I also want everyone to know," Mie explains to Sirius, knowing she wants Albus especially to know as he is the best person to deal with Molly, who nods. "I want everyone who is included to be able to make their own choices, but I want them to have all the information needed to do so," Mie tells Sirius.
"Mie, I know how important this is, I know how determined you are, but you can't let this be all you do," Sirius tells Mie. "I know, that figuring this out is incredibly complicated, so we both know you're not going to do it quickly," Sirius reminds Mie. "Spend a little time every day trying to figure it out, don't make it all you do," Sirius tells Mie.
"I just… want to get it right," Mie tells Sirius. "Every day I think about how I am working to make this timeline better and I feel guilty that I haven't given others that chance," Mie explains to Sirius, and she can't deny, though she will not admit it, that she can't help but remember the promise she made future Harry.
"Mie, you're going to," Sirius assures. "I may not completely understand how this is going to work if you're going to take everyone out of their timeline, but isn't this a key example of time is relative?" Sirius asks Mie, who spends a few moments considering Sirius's words.
"Yeah, I guess it would be," Mie admits. "I don't want to let people down," Mie tells Sirius.
"Not possible," Sirius says, reaching out and taking the notebook Mie is holding. "Come downstairs, spend time with the people who care about you, maybe it will even help you see things clear enough to help with the spells," Sirius says to his friend.
"Okay," Mie says, reaching over and taking the notebook back from Sirius and over the next minute or so Mie packs up everything and puts it in the trunk next to her bed which she secures with multiple spells.
After securing everything she is working on Mie heads downstairs with Sirius and proceeds to spend the rest of the day enjoying time with her friends who mean so much to her.
A couple of days have passed since Sirius talked to Mie about how concerned he and their friends were about her and ever since Mie has been doing her best not to isolate herself. As well as not isolating herself Mie is also trying to spend more time outside and because of that as she has finished lunch with her friends, including the Bones triplets who have returned, Mie is going for a walk around Hogsmeade.
Due to everything that has happened lately, and her own paranoia, as Mie walks she has her wand in her hand, though unless someone was looking closely they wouldn't have realised that.
"Miss Dumbledore! Miss Dumbledore!" A voice yells and Mie turns to see who is calling for her, and as soon as she turns, she realises exactly who is calling for her, but she wishes she didn't so she tightens the hold on her wand.
"Yes?" Mie asks, being careful not to say more as Mie knows that while she knows who it is that is trying to talk to her, she isn't supposed to know the person.
"My name is Rita Skeeter, I work for the Dailey Prophet, I was hoping we could talk," Skeeter says to Mie, who knows that that is stretching the truth a little as Rita is only an intern at the prophet at the moment.
"Miss Skeeter, was it?" Mie asks, pretending that she wants to be sure, and Skeeter nods. "I have absolutely no interest in talking to you, and I never will, have a good day," Mie tells Skeeter, wanting to shut her down as quickly as possible, and she turns around.
"Miss Dumbledore It would be very good for you to talk to me," Skeeter says and Mie turns back around and faces her.
"I have no interest in that," Mie says, not realising that the way the sun hits her highlights something she usually attempts to keep hidden. "Good day," Mie once again says before walking away.
After walking away from Skeeter Mie does her best to ignore the anger she feels towards Skeeter because of everything she has done and because of that she doesn't realise that someone is trying to get her attention until Remus and Amelia are blocking her past and because she doesn't realise it's them she pulls her wand on them.
"Wow, it's us, it's okay," Remus assures Mie, holding his hands up in a surrender like way.
"Sorry," Mie tells her friends, lowering her wand.
"I know that look, what's got you so angry?" Amelia asks her friend.
"Skeeter," Mie answers.
"Seriously?" Remus asks shocked. "She's started to be an issue?" Remus asks, as he wasn't expecting her to be an issue yet.
"Apparently she wants to make a name for herself," Mie explains to her friends as they start to walk together.
"Did she say that or did her actions?" Amelia asks curious.
"The ladder," Mie answers. "She wanted an interview, I made it clear that wasn't going to happen," Mie explains to Amelia and Remus.
"You know that's going to cause her to try and come up with something she can use against you," Remus tells Mie feeling that she will need to prepare for that.
"Oh, I know," Mie confirms. "But I can deal with Skeeter," Mie tells her friends as she plans to immediately look into whether Skeeter is an illegal Animagus yet.
"Oh, we know," Amelia says with an amused look on her face and the three of them continue to walk together, all three of them feeling apprehensive about what Skeeter could do.
While Mie does a little to look into whether Skeeter is a Animagus yet by the next morning she has put Skeeter to the back of her mind as she has breakfast with her friends.
"It's concerning that Voldemort has been so quiet, isn't it?" Emmaline asks.
"It is," James confirms and just as he does there is a knock on the door, causing everyone to look at the door as they aren't expecting anyone.
"I just jinxed us," Emmaline realises, internally cursing herself.
"Yep," Mie confirms as she gets up and heads to the door, pulling her wand as she goes even though she knows logically that anyone who means to cause them harm won't knock on the door.
Getting to the door Mie opens it to reveal her father and the second she sees him she feels her worry rise and she becomes completely sure that Emmaline has jinxed them.
"Dad?" Mie asks, the surprise she is feeling being clear in her voice.
"May I come in?" Albus asks.
"Of course," Mie says, letting him into the house, and the two of them head into the living area rather than the kitchen. "What's going on?" Mie asks her father, sounding concerned as she knows that for him to be at their house so early then something is wrong.
"I take it you haven't seen the daily prophet today," Albus says to his daughter, not sure if it is better that she hasn't seen it or not.
"What's Skeeter said?" Mie asks, realising that she should have seen this coming.
"It would be best for you to read it," Albus says, handing the prophet over to Mie.
Taking the paper from her father Mie looks at the prophet and on the front page she sees a picture of her that was taken back when she was in Diagon Alley fighting Bellatrix. After looking at the picture Mie looks at the headline and she feels her heart sink, 'Annemie Dumbledore; Scars and Secrets?'.
"She spotted the scar on my neck," Mie realises, without even reading it, looking at Albus.
"She did," Albus confirms. "It seems like she also looked at every picture of you that has been produced in the past few months and has looked at them carefully," Albus tells his daughter.
"She saw others," Mie realises, and even though she is sure that she is going to regret it Mie knows it is better she knows what is being said about her and so she reads the article.
Annemie Dumbledore; Scars and Secrets?
Six months ago, Albus Dumbledore introduced his daughter, Annemie, 18, to the world. Ever since then everyone has been curious about where she has been before now and felt unsatisfied with Dumbledore's lacklustre explanations.
Now, Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter, can exclusively reveal that the daughter of the hero of the light has a very visible scar that spans her neck (see below picture) a scar that I have seen with my own eyes, and several scars on her arms and back. This begs the question why hasn't a wizard as powerful as Albus Dumbledore (and if her achieving seven Outstanding's on her NEWTS are anything to go by Annemie Dumbledore may one day rival her father) healed his daughter?
"Some injuries cannot be healed by magic," Saint Mungo's healer, 42 who wishes to remain anonymous said. "If it was a cursed object to cause the injury, or dark magic, or if the injury healed naturally before treatment, it can be difficult if not impossible to heal those kids of injuries,".
Albus Dumbledore positions himself as our savour, but if he can't protect his own daughter from so horrific that she couldn't be healed what does that means for the rest of us? Does Gellert Grindelwald and his sudden reappearance have anything to do with the injures? Neither Dumbledore could be reached for comment.
"Wow, guess people are obsessed with scars no matter the time," Mie says with a frown.
"Are you okay?" Albus asks his daughter, as he knows that what was revealed was incredibly private.
"Me? Most of this article is attacking you," Mie says to her father, feeling bad about that.
"It is not the first time," Albus says to his daughter. "Annemie, I know how you feel about the scars you have, and how desperately you would have wanted them to be remain private," Albus says to his daughter.
"I did, I do," Mie admits. "But I also accepted that one day people might speculate, my scars aren't exactly subtle," Mie admits. "If it was anyone else it would be worse, but it's Skeeter, I expect this kind of thing from her," Mie says, glancing down at the article once more. "Is Gellert not here because he thought I would blame him?" Mie asks her father.
"He did not admit that, but I believe he does have that fear," Albus admits, as while Gellert didn't admit that Albus knows his love well enough to know that that is what he was thinking when he offered to stay at the castle to go through the mail they have received.
"He shouldn't," Mie admits.
"I believe that it will be difficult to convince him of that," Albus admits.
"Just like it would be hard to convince either of us," Mie mutters. "Dad, I don't want to address this article," Mie tells her father.
"Then don't," Albus tells her. "I believe in this situation it would be best to just ignore the article," Albus tells his daughter.
"Skeeter won't just go away, trust me," Mie tells her father.
"But she may have her attention drawn to something else," Albus says to his daughter.
"I hope so," Mie admits, even though she knows that could be bad and she walks forward and hugs her father.
For the next few minutes Albus and Mie hug in the living room of the house Mie shares with her friend until the front door suddenly bursts open, and the second they realise what is going on both Mie and Albus break apart and pull their wands, resulting in them pointing them at Gellert who is the person who has hurried in.
"Gellert? What's wrong?" Albus asks his love, as the other teenagers come hurrying in from the kitchen/diner.
"A message just came though the Floo network. The town of Tinworth, specifically the beach area, is being attacked," Gellert says, looking between Mie and Albus.