24: Threads
Penny Weasley was used to waiting.
She had spent years waiting to see her dreams of non-intrusive time travel realised before the eventual creation of her precious Portal. More than a little time had passed as she’d waited for Percy to realise that there really was more to life than his work. The nine months spent waiting to become a mother for the first time had, some days seemed to be lasting forever. And, of course, she remembered vividly the terrible wait to discover if everyone that she loved and cared about had come out of the Battle of Hogwarts alive.
But no wait had ever seemed as long as this one.
“He must have made it in time.” Molly repeated the words for the fourth time in as many minutes, her hands grasping a handkerchief that was slowly being wrung into a twisted knot by the anxious motions of her hands. “He’d have been back by now to tell us if he hadn’t. Surely he’d have been back by now…”
“Molly, calm down.” Penny watched as Arthur placed one hand on his wife’s shoulder, his voice soothing, but she could see the fear and anxiety waging a war with desperate hope in her father-in-law’s eyes as he sighed. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure of it.”
“But if they’ve done it, if they’ve…” Molly’s fretting stalled at the awful prospect that filled them all with dread. “What if we were too late? If we’d asked for permission to tell Penny yesterday, if we’d found out what she knew before…”
Penny closed her eyes, trying to ignore the uncomfortable dizziness and aching limbs that her plagued her ever since she’d finally managed to battle her way back to a conscious whole. She needed no reminders of the toll her secrecy might exact. Why hadn’t she told Teddy about the research she’d started when he’d innocently told her about his odd experience in the Portal? Why hadn’t she left her notes at the office where Rajesh or Edgar might have found them, rather than locking them away in a private drawer at home? And why, oh why, had she been so stupid as to step into the Portal when she’d been able to feel in her bones that something about it wasn’t right?
Idiot! I am such an idiot!
And now the lives of her former teacher and his wife, two war heroes, Teddy’s parents, were on the line because of it.
She wasn’t sure she could wait much longer. If Percy didn’t arrive soon…
“Oof!”
The bed gave a sudden lurch as Percy stumbled out of mid-air and smacked hard against the footboard, wincing sharply as he dropped the book that had apparently served as his Portkey onto the bed with a thud. Rubbing his thigh, he righted himself, straightening his glasses and pulling his robes back into order with a fastidiousness that Penny usually found rather endearing. But in that anxious moment, the delay made her want to scream.
“Percy!” Luckily, Molly had no more patience on the subject than her daughter-in-law. “What happened? Did you make it in time? Are they all right? Is Kingsley going to come and…”
“Mother!” Percy raised his hands, and then Penny could see the slight smile on his face that told her as much as a beaming grin, and swamped her from head to toe with utter relief. He made it, it’s not too late, I can put this right… “It’s fine! Professor Lupin and his wife hadn’t been sent through when I arrived, and so I passed on Penny’s message and they’ve stopped the proceeding for now. They’ll all be coming here by Portkey in a few minutes’ time. I’ve been sent ahead to make some room “ after all there’ll be seven extra people here and this hospital room isn’t all that big…”
The rest of his sentence was drowned out by Molly’s cry of relief. Launching herself out of her chair, she flung her arms first around her husband and then around her son, before slumping back into her seat with her hankie clutched to her face.
There was a brief pause while both Weasley men, their hair now ruffled and their glasses comically askew, shared a brief, near identical look of bewildered affection. And then, as one, they set to work shrinking the furniture.
“What took so long?” Arthur beat Penny to the question by only a few moments, as he reduced a pot plant and a cupboard to doll’s house proportions with a wave of his wand and bent to pick them up. “I wouldn’t have thought getting to the Department of Mysteries from here would take more than five minutes at the speed you were going when you left, but it’s been more than twenty minutes now.”
Percy pulled a face as he leaned over and pecked his wife affectionately on the cheek, before apologetically reducing her bed in size by a good third. Penny pulled herself up against the reduced headboard as she tapped her toes against the footboard and tested her now lessened space.
“There was a bit of trouble.” Opting to leave his mother’s seat alone, Percy gathered the shrunken furniture and placed it safely on the side table. “Tertias DeWinter kicked up a fair bit of fuss.”
Penny felt herself grimace. DeWinter. There was no part of herself that could pretend she liked the man “ he spent very little time tending to the department that he had supposedly run for so many years, and had some ideas about what was natural and what was not that had never really fitted the ethos of the Unspeakables that had evolved later and almost in spite of him, under the management of his deputy Edgar Fortescue. She knew from Percy that Kingsley Shacklebolt was no real fan of his either, but keeping DeWinter on had been a concession to the Ministry old guard in the delicate days following the Battle of Hogwarts, and the Minister for Magic had never quite found a good enough reason to suggest he might fancy retirement. The older man was a stickler for the rules, and regarded anything out of the ordinary with a highly suspicious eye. Penny had always suspected that he had joined the Department of Mysteries in the first place because he fancied taking unusual creatures “ and people “ apart to find out what they were made of.
“What happened?” Wincing against the soreness of her body, Penny shifted against her now reduced bed. “What did he do?”
Percy frowned grimly. “He wouldn’t accept it when Matilda Breakspear said she was putting the proceedings on hold until she’d heard your new evidence. He kept insisting that the law was the law and justice had to be served. In the end, he went into a bit of a rant about how unnatural this all was, and how it had to be put right no matter what. He started threatening the professor with his wand then, and the Minister had no choice but to ask that he be removed.” He smiled slightly. “Somehow I have a feeling that you might finally be getting a new boss, darling. Even Kingross looked appalled at his behaviour when he escorted him out, and he’s one of his oldest friends.”
“I can’t say I’m sorry.” And she wasn’t, not by a long, long way. “Trust him to make trouble.”
“That’s all clear.” Arthur was glancing around the room as he moved back to join Molly, who was now smiling as she tucked her handkerchief away in one of her many pockets. “How long did they say they’d be?”
“Just a few minutes. The Minister had to go and sort out DeWinter, and since Ministry law states that no convicted prisoners may be moved out of Ministry premises except in the presence of two accredited law enforcement professionals, they’ll have to wait until he comes back. Harry can’t come alone and Matilda and Hermione don’t qualify. And Kingsley Shacklebolt might be the Minister now, but he’s still officially a qualified Auror. They don’t need to send for anyone else.”
Arthur looked thoughtful. “I wouldn’t have thought Remus and Tonks would count as convicted criminals.”
Percy shrugged. “Officially they don’t, although circumstances have dictated they be treated as such. However, Teddy does.”
“And they’ll accept Penny’s findings, won’t they?” It was Molly who spoke, glancing between Penny and Percy with an almost pleading expression. “They won’t go back on this now, surely, not once they understand. They’ll let them live when they hear the truth, won’t they?”
Penny and her husband exchanged a glance. “I hope they will, Molly.” Penny said softly. “Because if they don’t, it’ll be a hideous mistake and I’ll do everything I can to keep that from happening.”
Percy was nodding as he moved to lock the door, although he didn’t look completely certain “ in his rush to halt proceedings, he hadn’t heard as much of his wife’s reasons for intervening as his parents had. “Madam Breakspear is renowned for her fairness and she’ll make the final decision. As long as the evidence is clear…”
And then suddenly, the room was full. Muffled yelps, gasps, and the sounds of seven people abruptly finding themselves with limited space to manoeuvre were punctuated by a brown-haired young woman with a heart-shaped face tumbling, with arms flailing, across the much reduced bed. From her position slumped across Penny’s legs, she glanced up and offered a wan smile.
“Sorry!” she exclaimed with a certain amount of resignation. “That was ruddy inevitable really, but I hope I didn’t hurt your legs…”
“Come on, Dora. Up you get.” A pair of arms were reaching down, helping the young woman to sit, pulling her to her feet, and Penny found herself staring, starting at the sound of the still strangely familiar voice and a face impossibly unchanged even after more than twenty years…
“Professor Lupin,” she said softly.
He was just the same. She’d known that was the case, of course, known intellectually what had happened, but it still seemed bizarre to see him standing there as though he’d just stepped out of her NEWT Defence class, fresh from giving a talk on curses or testing their skills at defensive spells. It was always strange to see a teacher out of context, away from the classroom where they almost seemed to live in a student’s eyes, but to see him in her hospital room, twenty years out of his time…
He smiled, the same friendly smile he’d always used. “Penelope. It’s good to see you again. And I think we’re a little past Professor now. Please, call me Remus.”
“Well, Remus, it’s good to see you too.” Penny smiled in return, in spite of the strangeness of addressing a former teacher by his first name; even at over forty years old, it still seemed slightly wrong somehow. “Especially considering I thought I might be too late…”
“Which brings us to the point.” Matilda Breakspear had squeezed herself to the fore, settling rather awkwardly between Arthur and Kingsley Shacklebolt; Harry and Hermione were side by side at the end of the bed with Percy by the door, and Lup… Remus was standing with Teddy and the brown-haired young woman she presumed must be his wife to the left of her bed. “Your husband said you had fresh evidence to present that had the potential to alter our ruling that Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks must return and die as history says they did. Is this correct?”
“It is.” It was time to focus. Penny forced herself to try and steady the dizzy wash in her head, braced herself to concentrate as she straightened her thoughts and the points she needed to make in her mind. She felt rather than Percy smile at her encouragingly, and took the strength she needed from his unspoken support. She might have married a man who could be pompous and self-righteous to the point of aggravation at times, but he always came through when it counted.
“First and foremost, I would like to make a statement as Head of the Time Division.” Bracing her aching shoulders, Penny turned to face the Minister and the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, well aware that the words that followed had the potential to cost her her job. “And Minister, I need to protest, in the strongest possible way, about the liberties that have been taken with my department in my absence. Had I been present, I would never have permitted even the idea that the Time Portal that I have devoted my life to creating could be used as an instrument of execution. It is not the Death Chamber, and if the Wizengamot truly has decided for the first time in centuries that it wants someone dead rather than just soulless, then they should either push them through the Veil or use the Killing Curse upon them. But do not seek to use my Portal as an excuse for potential murder. I won’t have it, Minister, Madam Breakspear. I simply won’t.”
Matilda Breakspear had gone very pale, her jaw locked grimly as she stared at Penny, her expression difficult to read. She cleared her throat. “I understand how this might look to you, Madam Weasley,” she said, her voice low but steady. “But this was not an execution. We were merely seeking to restore history to its proper state. And although I am not convinced of the verdict myself, the Wizengamot has spoken. The protest of one Unspeakable, however senior, will not change that fact.”
Penny felt herself sigh deeply. It was so, so difficult to make anyone who did not work in the department grasp the intricacies of temporal theory. It was no wonder so many of the Wizengamot had chosen not to try and understand, to hide behind the excuse of history to prevent an outcry.
“The word of this Unspeakable is different.” Penny prayed that the confidence of her tone contained no hint of the turmoil of worry that lay beneath it. “Because I’m not bound by your Vow of Silence yet. I say the idea behind these deaths is unnecessary and cruel and I can say that to whomsoever I choose. I know you wanted to avoid an outcry, and I’m pretty sure a good number of those who voted in favour of the idea this barbaric action were thinking about that when they cast their votes. But that is so very wrong and I know better than anyone how wrong it is to say that they must die by any means.” Penny fought to keep the pleading note from her voice “ she had to maintain her professionalism, but it was so difficult to argue a case she knew had been rejected once before on pure ignorance. “I know the case for history was argued and argued well in the hearing, but I cannot stress enough that history cannot be damaged if these two people remain in the here and now. Everything I have heard of what Teddy has done tells me that he took every precaution to make things right. He could not have succeeded if he hadn’t. This is the truth that must be acknowledged, that the Wizengamot must be made to understand. You cannot talk of killing two innocent people as a precaution because of a theory you don’t completely understand. Well, I understand it, and I know that history can be no excuse. I’m sorry to be high-handed, Madam Breakspear, but I know more about this case than anybody else does and I will be listened to. Even if I have to go to the Prophet or the Crucible…”
The mention of the press chased the last hint of blood from Matilda Breakspear’s face. “But…the people!” she exclaimed. “There would be chaos! Half the witches and wizards in Britain would be beating a path to the Ministry demanding we resurrect their loved ones!” She gave the smallest hint of a glare. “Your Portal would have to be destroyed to prevent anarchy. The dead walking every street…”
Penny slowly shook her head. “They can beat as much of a path as they like, Madam Breakspear. And maybe the Portal will have to be destroyed.” The words stabbed like a dagger at the very thought, but two lives mattered more than a life’s work when all was said and done. “But it doesn’t have to be, because their demands can’t be met even if we wanted to.” Her eyes shifted to Teddy, who was holding his mother’s hand tightly and watching Penny speak with an almost desperate hunger. “What Teddy did that night was a freak occurrence that is almost completely unrepeatable. The risk that it will happen again is so small as to be infinitesimal. If anyone but Teddy Lupin had tried to do what he did, they could not have succeeded. If he’d tried to rescue any other person than he did, they would not have been saved. They could not even have survived.” Penny fixed her gaze onto the Minister’s hopeful expression and Madam Breakspear’s tense countenance and smiled. “The chance of this succeeding was one in a million. It just so happened that by a fluke of nature, Teddy beat the odds.”
“Metamorphmagus.” Hermione’s voice was filled with a sudden understanding and Penny fought to conceal the flood of relief that someone other than herself had grasped the truth. “It worked because Teddy is a metamorphmagus, didn’t it?”
Penny nodded firmly. “And because Nymphadora is. I…”
“Tonks.”
The interruption startled Penny out of her train of thought. “Pardon?”
Professor Lupin’s brown-haired wife, although looking slightly apologetic, remained unabashed. “It’s Tonks. My name? Please don’t call me Nymphadora “ it reminds me of the vindictiveness of my mother against small, squalling infants who’d never done her any harm. And Mrs Lupin just makes me sound all boring and respectable.”
Remus chuckled at her declaration. “We can’t have that, can we?”
The young woman “ Tonks “ nudged him almost playfully. “You know damn well that if I was boring and respectable, you’d never have married me. And you can shush now because this isn’t the time.” Ignoring the way her husband’s lips worked in silent protest, Tonks frowned thoughtfully and turned back to Penny. “As for this metamorphmagus thing… It’s because of the red light, isn’t it? The way it squeezes you? I remember feeling at the time that if I’d been anyone but me, it would have pulled me apart.” She shot a glance at her husband, who had gone oddly pale, his eyes suddenly far away. “Just like it nearly did to Remus.”
It was an excellent layman’s summation and Penny was grateful for it. “That’s it exactly, Tonks, thank you. It has to do with the nature of time. The passivity field was designed to make us passive parts of history, unseen watchers of historical events, but it is also the only thing that protects us from the raw power of time itself on the step from one timeframe to another. Time-Turners employ a similar effect, although the protection lasts only for the length of the journey “ that is why the chain of the device is placed around the neck, to contain the person or persons it carries and them alone. Without that field, we would be engulfed in time itself. The field must follow the person it protects, but it is bounded by the limits of human movement and cannot be broken by them. It cannot extend beyond a certain point because the timestream itself will not permit it. It was thought that the field was infallible, and that breaking it and venturing into the timestream itself simply could not be done.” Penny sighed, glancing over to where Teddy still stood beside his parents. “A while ago now, Teddy came to me and told me that he had felt the field was close to breaking after he had morphed whilst visiting the past. I immediately began an investigation and the results alarmed me. When I studied early experiments with Time-Turning, I found stories of people physically ripped apart by the journey, and of bodies being found minus their souls. Until the art of self-protection was learned, the early days of time travel were filled with gruesome death. I even went back and watched these experiments for myself via the Portal. The stories told of people killing their past or future selves come from these times; one man, Igor Ludavic, found a grotesquely splinched man outside his village and put the poor soul out of his misery. It was only months later, after he attempted to travel back in time and was never heard from again, that his brother checked this unidentified victim’s effects and realised that the splinched man had been what was left of Igor.”
A shudder went around the room and Penny couldn’t blame them “ after seeing Igor’s mangled remains that day, she hadn’t been able to touch stew for several weeks.
Teddy was regarding her with uncertainty. “Did you think that might happen to me if I broke the field?” he asked quietly. “Or did you always know I’d be safe?”
Penny looked at the young man, so innovative and impulsive, who’d caused so much trouble without ever meaning it to be so. “I wasn’t sure at first,” she admitted. “That’s why I banned you until I’d investigated, although perhaps I should have taken pains to stress possible dangers as well.” She smiled and Teddy smiled uncertainly with her. “But I began to suspect you alone would be able to take the stresses and strains of it when I learned it was a metamorphmagus who invented the Time-Turner. He alone was able to survive the trip in order to learn the cause of all the accidents and find a solution to them. It seems that having an adaptable physiology is the key to surviving unprotected time travelling. Time is the great bringer of change and it cannot contain the static. Unless the physiology of a person can adapt instinctively to the shifting power of time around it, like metamorphmagi can, they will be… well, the best phrase I can think of is time-splinched.” She shuddered, remembering the drag of the light, her body screaming and her soul pulling, dragging itself out of her body. “Just as I almost was.”
A hand grasped hers almost fiercely “ she looked up to find Teddy’s pale face and pleading eyes staring at her intensely.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his voice cracking slightly as his jaw shook. “Honestly, Penny, I had no idea that what I’d done had caused that kind of damage to the Portal. If I’d had any notion that you were going to be so badly hurt, I…”
“Teddy.” The slow press of her free hand against the back of his stilled the flow of frantic words. “It’s all right. You couldn’t have known what would happen. Really, it was my own fault “ if I’d involved you in my research, you would have understood the dangers. And I still can’t believe I was so stupid as to step into that Portal. I knew the dangers, I knew the field had been damaged, and like an idiot, I stepped right in anyway. There was no one to blame for the accident but me. It wasn’t your fault, Teddy. I don’t blame you at all.”
Penny wasn’t sure that she had ever seen quite so much relief on one face. He almost looked ready to burst into tears with it as he nodded quietly in unspoken “ probably unspeakable “ gratitude and stepped shakily away.
“There are easier ways to confirm your theories than almost getting yourself killed.” Penny realised her voice was shaking, but there didn’t seem to be much she could do to hold it back as the memories of that awful sense of separation she had experienced dragged at her mind. “I rather wish I’d found one. But my accident in the Portal proved to me that my theories had been absolutely right. I’m told that I was in a coma, but the truth of the matter is that it wasn’t that simple at all. When I stepped into the Portal and the field snapped for a second time, I was subjected, body and soul, to the most terrible forces. My body was severely battered but my soul was what I nearly lost “ I could feel myself being dragged out of my body and all that kept me together was a tiny thread, a little piece of protection left over from the temporary field that Rajesh had managed to re-establish. Without that, I would be dead now. And my unconsciousness was not because of my injuries. That was the time it took me to pull myself properly back together again, and I felt every moment that I spent straining to be whole until I woke.”
She hadn’t seen Percy cross the room, her eyes fixed upon the fold of bed-sheets and blankets in her lap, but she knew his hand the moment it took hers and she glanced up smiling at him, drinking in the reassurance that she was here, she was alive and whole and safe. She breathed deeply for a moment, trying to recover herself before she looked up at her former teacher. One glance at his eyes told her everything she needed to know.
“And from what I’ve been told,” she said quietly. “As a non-metamorphmagus, you had a similar experience, Remus. It’s a miracle either of us survived it. I can only assume that perhaps your werewolf physiology “ a body that is used to change, even if it is forced and painful “ may have had something to do with it. I don’t know the cycle but perhaps if the full moon was close…”
“The change in the cycle!” Teddy’s exclamation silenced Penny’s verbal musings “ she glanced at the young man to find his face lit up with realisation. He turned at once, glancing between his father and his boss as though seeking both of their approvals.
“I bet that’s it,” he said with enthusiasm. “When Dad came back, he found his body was out of sync with the cycle of the moon, and it took him days and all sorts of nasty symptoms to readjust. There was vomiting and shaking and he even passed out after…”
“Teddy, please.” Remus raised one hand, his expression torn between amusement and discomfort. “I don’t think anybody really wants the details.”
“Sorry.” Teddy had the grace to look a little abashed. “But what if that’s what happened when he passed through the Portal? His body, for a moment, was trying to adjust to two moon cycles at once. It probably tried to make changes. Maybe that slight physiological alteration was enough to keep him whole…”
“That might be the reason I managed to get out.” Remus was nodding slowly, although his eyes still looked distant. “But I experienced the same thing as you described, Penelope “ I felt as though my body was being pulled apart. And I remember my soul being dragged away as well…” He closed his eyes for a moment.
“You know, I think I understand now. I think I was… time-splinched, did you call it? I think my soul was pulled out of my body altogether. And it would probably still be in there “ if it hadn’t been for Harry.”
Penny saw the Head of the Aurors start and stare at his former teacher at the mention of his name. His face too was filled with sudden understanding.
“The Resurrection Stone,” he said softly. “When I called you…”
“It gave me a direction.” Remus’ voice sounded so very far away and Penny could relate to the feeling, the sense of detachment, the drift, the helplessness and distance that stood between her separated soul and being herself once more. “It reminded me who I was. And seeing James, Sirius and Lily…” He seemed to shake himself. “They pushed me back, or seeing them made me go back, I’m not sure which. That’s why I was all there though when my body was thrown out of the Portal, instead of my soul being left behind. Because you called me, Harry.” He smiled, his features tinged with a kind of grateful disbelief. “You saved my life. Just by asking for me, you saved my life.”
Harry’s smile was equally bewildered, if happy. “Glad to be of service.”
Penny didn’t pretend to have a clue what they were talking about. Molly and Arthur had mentioned some strange experience that Harry had cited in the trial as happening during the Battle of Hogwarts, although they hadn’t given her much detail. But it sounded intriguing. Perhaps they would allow her to conduct an investigation…
Matilda Breakspear’s voice interrupted her academic musings. “So Madam Weasley, you’re saying that only a metamorphmagus could have pulled someone out of the past? And that only another metamorphmagus “ or an extremely lucky werewolf - could be rescued?”
Penny nodded firmly. “And I’m sure you’ll agree, the odds of anyone being able to cite an example of someone they want to rescue who fits those criteria is exceedingly slim. Excepting his mother, Teddy Lupin is the only metamorphmagus in wizarding Britain. There have been no more than a dozen metamorphmagi per century throughout wizarding history. No one else would stand a chance.”
Matilda’s thoughtful frown was both promising and disconcerting. “It certainly does put a different slant on things “ one of the primary concerns of the Wizengamot was the possibility of it happening again. But are you absolutely sure that history will not be damaged if they do not return?”
Penny battled not to sigh. Oh, for a world in which people listened and understood…
“History can’t be damaged,” she repeated again. “Those two fake bodies are part of history as we know it in the way the real Mr and Mrs Lupin no longer are. I understand you were going to try and exchange them for the real thing with a Switching Spell?”
“Actually, DeWinter had already tried it.” Molly’s gasp almost drowned out the rest of Hermione’s sentence. “But it didn’t work, thank Merlin.”
“It won’t work,” Penny stated firmly. “It can’t. You can’t cast a spell across time. Even without the magical dampening effect of the field, time itself would simply consume any magic cast into it via the Portal. Unless they were retrieved by hand, which wouldn’t be possible for anyone but a metamorphmagus anyway, those two fake bodies are staying exactly where they are. And all the Felix Felicis in the world couldn’t compensate for the fact that the millionth of a second timing that would be required to remove those bodies and place Mr and Mrs Lupin back in exactly the right spot to both receive the same Killing Curse without bumping into Teddy as he made the original exchange is simply not possible. Putting them back would require an unworkable plan for an unnecessary act. It can’t be done. And since there is no great mystery as to why Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks left two corpses on the battlefield, I think it is safe to say that no one even tried. And therefore no one will.”
For just a moment, Penny found herself fixed with an enormous smile courtesy of the Minister of Magic. But Kingsley Shacklebolt swallowed his outward joy quickly, although the corner of his lips maintained an upward curl in spite of his otherwise serious expression.
“Well, Matilda,” he said, his deep voice quiet but carrying powerfully. “I’d say this puts a whole new light on things, don’t you? And there certainly seem to be grounds enough for an appeal, if Hermione would care to make a submission for a second hearing.”
A smiling Hermione was already rummaging in the battered old beaded bag that she always seemed to carry. “I’ve probably got the paperwork in here if I can find it. Penny, if you’re free to sit down with me to go through it all again…”
Penny almost laughed. “I think I can spare the time, under the circumstances.”
“And I’m sure the outcome will be very different.” Penny couldn’t help but wish that Matilda would stop frowning. “Considering the original sentence is impossible to carry out. But I’m still concerned about public opinion. Perhaps if this matter was kept confidential and Mr and Mrs Lupin remained incognito…”
“But that’s hardly fair on them, is it?” There was a distinctly truculent note to the voice of Harry Potter. “Living in hiding because you’re worried about people kicking up a fuss over something they can’t even have. You can’t ask two people, two war heroes, to live their lives in seclusion because you don’t want to deal with the hassle!”
Remus was looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Harry, if that’s what’s necessary…”
“But it’s not necessary, Remus.” Having deposited a pile of paperwork, two clipboards, and a quill and ink on the foot of Penny’s bed, Hermione rejoined the conversation brusquely. “All they have to do is say it was an accident. Teddy broke the field by mistake and was so overwhelmed by finding he might be able to save his dead parents that he acted on impulse to rescue them without even knowing it would work, albeit while having the wherewithal to replace them with fakes. It was a freak occurrence, a meeting of two metamorphmagi at different ends of history, that no one could have known would happen and that is impossible to repeat. You can say Remus was protected just enough by his condition, although he very nearly died and wouldn’t have survived it if two metamorphmagi hadn’t been travelling with him. Kingsley can make a statement and they’ll believe him, I’m sure“ he’s deservedly had the people’s trust for twenty years now, and that’s a rare and valuable thing. Ginny can speak to her editor at the Prophet, and make sure the story gets written in a way that makes it clear this isn’t an option for anyone else. There’s bound to be a few who argue but I think with Kingsley’s word on it and the right coverage, most people will accept it, and if they think it was a fluke and he doesn’t know how it was done, Teddy won’t be badgered to do the same thing for anyone else. Remus and Tonks can go on with their lives as normal.”
There was no mistaking the slight smile on Kingsley Shacklebolt’s face now. “I think the lady has a point, Matilda.”
Matilda Breakspear still looked a little uncomfortable, but there was a hint of a smile now in the corners of her mouth. “I think she just might. We’ll have to handle this carefully…”
Kingsley began to grin. “I think we can do that.”
“But under the circumstances, I have to agree. That is the best option for all concerned. We will hold an appeal and Penelope Weasley will give her testimony. We can use the Vow of Silence again to ensure discretion and…”
“Of course-” the casual, matter-of-factness to Hermione’s tone drew immediate attention. “-that does mean you can’t send Teddy to Azkaban.”
The hint of a smile disappeared instantly off Matilda Breakspear’s face. “Madam Weasley, whatever else has been established here, Mr Lupin still committed a serious offence. We cannot just…”
“But officially, it was an accident.” There was something just a tiny bit glib about the look on Hermione’s face. “He acted on impulse. How do you think it will look if the Ministry is seen to send a young man to prison for being involved in an accident and then impulsively saving two loved ones? Who out there wouldn’t have done the same? It will seem very cruel. People might suspect that there has been some kind of cover up…”
“I see your point.” Matilda looked a little annoyed as she regarded Hermione and her innocent expression with a raised eyebrow. “Mr Lupin’s sentence will also be reconsidered during the appeal. But as to the matter of his employment… I think that will have to be left in the hands of his head of Division.”
Which, of course, was her. Penny closed her eyes as she felt every gaze in the room shift in her direction. Teddy was an intelligent young man with a good grasp of history and an impressive work ethic “ he was quick to grasp matters of theory and his interpretations of events he witnessed were impeccable. He was friendly and funny and she liked him very much.
But he’d lied to her. He’d used Unspeakable resources for his own ends and he’d endangered the lives of his colleagues because of it. When she had researched his ability to manipulate the field, Penny had also found a way to stop it from happening, but she had held back on that prospect because it would have meant that Teddy would no longer be able to enter the Portal and work in the field, for persons with adaptive physiology would necessarily be restricted from entry.
“It’s all right, Penny.” At Teddy’s low statement, Penny opened her eyes to find her young friend’s eyes staring down at her with a mixture of resignation and pain. “It’s okay, I’ll resign. I know that I don’t deserve my place there any more.”
Penny nodded quietly, internally ashamed at how relieved she felt. “I can restrict the Portal against this, stop it happening again, but it would have meant you couldn’t use it anymore. Your fluid physiology wouldn’t react well to the tightening of the spells. I’m sorry, Teddy.”
Teddy smiled wanly. “Why are you sorry? It’s my own doing. This is only fair.” He glanced over his shoulder to where his parents were standing hand in hand. “And I think the price is worth it.”
“Ummm… can I…?” It was Tonks who had spoken, her expression distinctly uncertain as she glanced around the room, although Penny could see that one hand had grasped her husband’s in an almost deathly grip. “I just… I want to be clear on what’s going on. You… you can’t send as back, right?”
Matilda Breakspear nodded gently, her eyes suddenly warm. “That’s correct. There will have to be an appeal, but under the circumstances, I can’t imagine it’ll be much more than a formality.”
Tonks’ free hand waved random circles in the air as she glanced up at her husband. “And you’re going to go public on all this? Say it was an accident and Teddy acted on impulse so people don’t fuss?”
“Indeed.”
“And Teddy isn’t going to jail?”
Matilda’s eyebrow quirked in Hermione’s direction. “I can make no promises on that. But most probably not.”
“So…” Tonks’ expression was incredulous, confused, almost shocked, her features pale, her eyes full of a vivid cocktail of half-disbelieving hope. “I mean… What happens to us now? To Remus and me? What do we do?”
“I think that’s pretty straightforward, Mrs Lupin.” And now, at last, Matilda smiled, a warm, friendly, compassionate smile that seemed to brighten the entire room and illuminate the happy, relived, excited faces of everyone within. “You simply live. ”
A Little More Time by Pallas
Chapter Endnotes: We're almost done now, just the epilogue to go. But honestly, you lot... look me in the eye (or the review box) and tell me truly, did you really think I was going to give them anything but a happy ending? ;p