The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 10 January 2010

Chapter 63: New Plans Formed

It had taken a few weeks, but Remus, Tonks and Salazar were finally brought up to date and had spent a good deal of time in the ‘war room’. Even with the time displacement enchantments it took awhile as Remus and Tonks didn’t want to spend more than a few hours away from Teddy. He was in a strange place and didn’t know the people well. Of course Teddy seemed to have adapted better than his parents as he was allowed to play with all kinds of toys and his new friend Sixth Born.

Remus was not happy about this development, but he could see that although Teddy was not a parslemouth, the snake would push the toys around for him and had a sort of sixth sense about what he wanted. Teddy would roll the ball and Sixth Born would roll it back by swatting it with his tail. If Teddy wanted the bear Harry had made for him the snake would go find it and push it or drag it back to the little boy. He had actually gotten to where he would call the snake “Sisth” and the snake would come and appear before Teddy and the two year old would laugh and laugh.

After the recent time travelers had finished with the information in the war room, Salazar asked Becca for a meeting to discuss what was needed next. They were all in the dinning room with Doc and Gorbink as well as the others including Snape and the younger Lupin.

“Well” Becca said as she looked around the room, “it seems as if our little group is getting bigger and bigger everyday.” She looked at the three new comers and sighed. “Alright, let’s hear the questions and we will try to give you as many answers as possible.”

The older Remus was the first one to speak. “First we need to do something about my name. We can’t have two Remus Lupins in this time and not get confused so we need to decide what to do.”

“I suggest we call you Remy or Remus Sr. and the other Remus Jr.” Harry said, “Muggles do it all the time by naming their children after their parents, especially the men. Either that or we can change your name to Romulus, but I think I would still call you Remy.” Harry finished cheekily.

It was the younger Remus that answered. “You guys can just call me Moony and we could keep our original names. My Father is already gone, so it could be said that the older Remus is my father who just returned to this area after several years abroad.” He looked at the older man and could see that life had been hard for him. He didn’t want to speculate all the trials the man must have suffered, especially if he was not cured until recently and had been through this war and another. He wondered if Snape felt this odd every time he was in the present of the other Severus. He hoped he could get familiar with it in time.

Remus Sr. leaned forward to the younger man and held out his hand. “It is most agreeable to make your acquaintance Remus Jr.” Everyone at the table laughed at the antics of the older man. Remus Jr. shook hands with his time traveling counterpart and smiled for the first time since coming into the room. Yes, he could get used to being around the man and perhaps he would help with some of the werewolves.

“Alright now that we have that out of the way, what are the other questions you have?” Becca asked.

Salazar was the one that spoke next, “There seems to be a multitude of information after October 31, 1981, but not much before that. Do you know what is going on now with the two wizards that are hell-bent on their own agenda?”

“I can only tell you that we are here too soon. Harry and Severus created a child several years earlier than in any other time line. We had to transfer the fetus to save Harry and the baby. We decided to raise the child with the other one we are to acquire. It was not planned so I didn’t reference all the information before leaving.” Becca turned to Salazar to address him personally. “I also don’t know where the time mirror is in this time line, so I can’t check on events as they happen.”

“There should be a time mirror at Hogwarts in my chambers. We just need to arrange for Dumbledore to be busy and I can get in there and get it.” Salazar then turned to everyone else at the table. “A time mirror is a device that can only be used by a Time Spirit. It allows for the seeing of the past in different time lines. It is how we know where catastrophic events occur and gives us the opportunity to change them. Since I have been the only known person able to do this up until now, I was in possession of it. Every time line has only one and only one is needed in every time line.

“How did you find it in the first place?” Severus asked.

“I only stumbled upon it when traveling before Hogwarts was founded. It was in Egypt, so I am assuming that somewhere in Egypt’s ancient past there was another Time Spirit. However, I have never been able to confirm that.”

Severus then turned to the goblin at the table. “Gorbink, do you think we can find a way to keep the headmaster busy so Sal can get into his chambers?”

“We can do what ever needs to be done as soon as you say the word. I think we can audit Hogwarts books soon, but we may have more of a chance after school ends its session. That way the students won’t get a look at you accidentally and think you are Lord Slytherin come to haunt them. Lucius Malfoy is on the Board of Governors for the school. Ask him to request the audit.”

“Getting in unseen is not the problem, it’s getting in undetected. I can get in through the Chamber’s secret exit in the Forbidden Forest, but the wards may alert Dumbledore that there is an intruder. I don’t know if he found out about the chamber and placed wards around it although he could never get in it. He may also have some sort of wards around the forest to detect human life forms entering it.”

“We have a bigger problem than that.” Harry said. “Whose-its-whats-it put the basilisk under some sort of spell when he was a student there. He killed the father of The Seven and did some kind of mind control on their mother. It’s why the snake attacked Moaning Myrtle. It’s also why it attacked several students in my second year, although I don’t think that will happen now.”

“Who is Whose-its-whats-it?” Salazar asked, clearly puzzled by the title although it looked like Remus Sr. caught on just fine.

“You know, Tom Riddle. Snape still has the mark so we don’t use his pseudonym. I just use Whose-its-whats-it, or What-his-name instead. I refuse to call him You-know-who.”

Salazar just shook his head at the boy’s antics. I mean really, why not just call him Tom Riddle?

“So what do we know without the mirror? Who knows what those two wizards are up to?” Salazar asked. “I am assuming that” he looked at Harry “Tom, will have power over my familiar until he dies. At least that is the theory I am going with because to assume anything better than the worst is going to get us in trouble.”

“I have knowledge of what happened from the Dark Lord’s side, but not everything” said Severus. Harry poked him in the ribs for the stupid reference.

“And I have knowledge from Dumbledore’s side. I was in the Order of the Phoenix in the first war.” Remus Sr. interjected.

“Good, we can use that for now and reassess the situation later. If I need to, I can try and move my base of operation to the chamber and use the castle mirrors to keep tabs on… What did you call him? The old coot. I’ll just have to do something about Lashisa.” Salazar was almost thinking out loud instead of addressing everyone in the room.

They talked for another hour, lunch being served by an ever present elf. Teddy woke from his nap and was having a fun time climbing on everyone’s lap and showing off Sixth Born, who was now around his neck like First Born was always hanging on Uncle Harry. Then when they were about to adjourn the meeting, Severus had something else to ask them.

“I know you want to leave, but we have one more thing we need to discuss.” Severus took Harry’s hand in his and said, “Harry and I want to be married before Becca gives birth in about two and a half months. We would like everyone to come and we will need to figure out how to do this without anyone else knowing. I don’t want to draw attention to ourselves or the company at this time.”

“OOOHHHH” Becca got all excited. “I think we should have the wedding in the pool room. We could enhance the decorations that Harry and the elves already put in there. We just have to get someone to officiate.”

“Any of the goblins could do a civil ceremony. I could do it now if you wish, but if you want a true wizard bonding service, you would need to get one of the Lords to do one. I know several, but there is the security question.” Gorbink informed them.

“I can do the wizard bonding, but I think Lord Salazar Slytherin on an official ministry document would raise some questions.”

“What about Malfoy? He is a Lord and he can officiate.” Snape said.

“I wouldn’t feel right about it until I released the information I warded from his memory.” Severus answered back.

“I would think with Lord Slytherin here, he would be agreeable to almost anything now. He follows power and there is no doubt that your group has more than anyone else.”

“Our group, you are a member too. Lucius is young, I don’t know if he knows the proper bonding ceremony. He also has a child coming in another month or so. It might not be a good time for him.”

“I could do the bonding ceremony, one of the old ones from my time and Lucius could sign off as officiate. Then we wouldn’t have the needed risk of security breaches and the wedding could take place anytime you are ready. We don’t even have to tell Lord Malfoy until the day of the ceremony, that way no one will know.”

Severus, who was still holding Harry’s hand, said, “Does that meet with your approval, love? How many wizards can say they were bonded by Lord Slytherin?”

Harry grinned and replied back to Sal, “We would be honored to have you do the bonding Lord Slytherin.”

After that the meeting broke up and everyone went their separate ways.

In Ottery St Catchpole…

Fabian and Gideon Prewett were just arriving at the Burrow when they came face to face with a dozen reporters and photographers. The entrance to the house was blocked as Molly and Arthur were directing the group to a smaller house next to the main on. This house was about on third the size of the family home, but they heard Molly say that refreshments were being served in the guest house. So everyone turned around and followed them to the smaller building.

“When did they get a guest house?” Fabian asked his brother.

“I didn’t know anything about it. Maybe it was set up by those Prince people Albus was complaining about. But if they did this for our sister, I don’t know what they want in return.” It wasn’t unusual for a Gryffindor to do something extraordinary, but most of the old pureblood families with money were Slytherins. They seemed to have a special ability to make money and know when not to spend it. No one gets something for nothing with a Slytherin.

When they entered the guesthouse, they were amazed at the sparse but comfortable and obviously expensive furnishings. Someone had placed enough chairs in the room to accommodate everyone that came. They watched from the back as Molly cast a slight sonorous charm on herself before addressing the media.

“Attention everyone, I would like to demonstrate the mini-floo for you and then I will answer any questions you may have.” Everyone quieted down as she made her way to the fireplace.

“Now as you can see, we have a regular floo here and if I want to make a floo call, I have to get the floo powder and get down close enough to the flames to talk unless I want to shout into the fire.” She demonstrated and called Arthur who had stayed in the house. “As you can see, the visual image is not always clear and it is awkward to have a lengthy conversation. Especially if you are the mother of six children.”

Everyone laughed at her comment about children, several of the reporters nodding their head in understanding.

“Now, if I want to make a call, I simply go over here next to the large floo and press against this panel.” She pressed against an indentation in the wall and a smaller replica of the large fireplace came into view.

“I can adjust the height so that I can talk while sitting or standing like so.” She then pushed up or down on the small hearth to adjust the height. “Then I press this button and out comes a measured amount of floo powder.” When she pushed the button a small a bit of floo powder dropped into the flame and she was connected with Arthur again, but this time the voice was clearer and you could see him better.

“The measured service means no waste and once you are connected you can talk for an hour before needing more floo powder. Because of the smaller size of the floo, you also get better sound and a better picture of the person you are talking to. It actually saves money because you use a lot less floo powder to get your call made.”

“I know some of you have seen this before, but some of you haven’t and Prince Conglomerate wanted you to have a chance to ask questions from someone who really uses the product on a daily basis.”

“Is someone from Prince here today?” One of the reporters asked.

“I am from Prince Builders and can answer the questions that Mrs. Weasley may not be able to.” Said a gentleman from the rear of the room.

“And what is your name?”

“I am Vince Warpal.”

“What do you do for the company?”

“I help with the advertising and public relations.”

“Why did they send you instead of one of the Prince family?”

“I do not believe that pertains to the mini-floo, but I have been authorized to tell you that Ms. Prince is seven months pregnant and unable to travel much. I am sure I don’t need to explain about traveling for long distances on the Knight Bus or the dangers of apparating in that condition.” He then motioned to Mrs. Weasley and said, “Molly if you please, why not let someone use the floo to make a call so they can see how easy it really is.”

The woman nodded and motioned to one of the reporters to come up and make a call. “It really is easy and look; no floo powder to get my hands dirty.” She called her boss at the office and spoke briefly to him before ending the call and sitting back down in her seat. Three elves appeared about that time with refreshment trays of butter beer, pumpkin juice and lemonade as well as several pasties and biscuits. All served courtesy of Prince Conglomerate.

As she circulated the room, answered questions and helped others use the floo, she noticed her brothers and gave a little wave. It was about an hour later when everyone was leaving that she was finally able to speak to them.

“How are you? I am so glad you came!” Molly gave each one of her big brothers a bone crushing hug.

Vince came up to her about that time and said, “Well done as usual Molly. It was a wonderful demonstration of the features that can come with the mini-floo. We are hoping to generate some business from some of the working class now that most of the upper class has had one installed.”

“Thanks Vince for being here, sometimes these people can get a little rowdy with their questions. Be sure to tell Becca, after the baby is born, to come and visit. Her little one with only be a few months younger than my Ronnie.”

“I will be sure to pass on the message.” Vince said as he was leaving.

Molly turned back to her brothers and asked, “So what are you two doing here? Come to see your nephews or have you just come to see me? It’s been ages since we have seen you. What have you been doing?”

“One question at a time Molly.” Fabian chuckled and asked, “A lot has been changing around here. What is with the guesthouse? I know you couldn’t afford this with all the other things going on.”

“Prince Builders did it for us. This is actually the only room furnished. They wanted us to have a place for demonstrations and let’s face it, our house is not the place for it with the children running around all the time.”

“So tell us about these people at Prince Conglomerate.” Gideon demanded of her gently.

“Well, I don’t really know that much. The owner is from Germany, they are expecting a baby. I only met Becca and Harry Prince once but they were really nice. They are younger than me but I think there is an older spouse in there somewhere. Becca and Harry are brother and sister.”

“How did they come to you about this plan of theirs?” Fabian asked suspiciously.

“Oh, well that was quite by accident. They didn’t know many people here and asked their account manager at Gringotts if he knew of anyone who might be willing to do the testing and publicity. They wanted someone from the Britain wizarding world to be able to vouch for them. Well of course you know they couldn’t ask anyone with money, there would be no reason for any of those moneyed purebloods to do something like this, so a goblin told them about us and our big family and they came to talk to us.”

“Just like that, you let strangers into your home?” Gideon was wondering about the sanity of his sister. Didn’t she know there was a war on?

“We had a letter of recommendation from Gringotts. If a goblin is willing to vouch for a wizard, I don’t see the harm in granting them a visit. Really, how many times have you even heard of a goblin doing something like that? We even flooed the bank to make sure it was their letter even though it was sealed with their insignia.”

“Molly you took a big risk here, with your family. I don’t think you really appreciate the dangers of the war.” Gideon started to lecture her.

“Look, you two, I don’t need a lecture. Both Arthur and I agreed to do this. Before the media was allowed into the wards a security detail was waiting to check them out. Prince Conglomerate takes every precaution in seeing to our safety. They built the guest house so people would not come into our home. This has been good for us and I don’t need you raining on our good fortune. Bill already has a vault for his Hogwarts tuition because he came up with the feature of dropping the floo powder into the fire. When Vince heard his suggestion, he took it to the Prince people and they arranged it as payment for his idea. He will get royalties from the sales of that feature.”

“You mean they are paying you for your ideas?”

“Of course, they believe that is only fair. The mini-floo was invented by Becca Prince as a young child when her Great Grandfather complained about getting on his sore knees to talk to people. They respect people and creatures alike and they believe in helping people. She even arranged for me to write a book, A Witch’s Household Guide. She had a writer follow me for a few months to write what I did to make housework and cooking easier. She said with so many muggle raised witches and wizards they needed something like that because they wouldn’t have learned it at home.”

“Are they Gryffindors?”

“Not that it matters, but Becca and Harry are from Australia and were home schooled. Not every one sees their life as one of the four houses from Hogwarts.” Molly said sternly, hoping they would stop their pestering about those nice people.

“Alright sis, we are sorry. We’re just worried about you. The war is escalating and we don’t want to see you get hurt.” Gideon said.

“How about we go see our newest nephew?” interjected Fabian for a distraction. So they went to the house for a nice long visit.

Later that evening…

After the twins made their way home, Fabian looked at his brother and said, “I don’t get it, Molly is a very good judge of character and wouldn’t risk her family. Why do you think Dumbledore is so desperate to get to know these people?”

“I think it has something to do with the information in that book. I haven’t read all of it, but it didn’t seem as if they were trying to take over the world. It also didn’t seem as if they were defending Voldemort in anyway either. So far it has actually been very informative.”

“Perhaps we will find out tomorrow what has him so worked up.”