Nymphadora Tonks woke to find she was looking straight up at a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds. One of the clouds looked like a wolf cub and she found herself wanting to cuddle him. A sharp pain in her side had her wondering if the puppy could have bitten her, before she came to realise it was a sharp stone digging into her rib.
Very slowly she sat up feeling a wave of dizziness which almost laid her flat again. Green grass surrounded her, but she could not figure out why she was on the edge of what appeared to be an unfamiliar, but empty field. Had she fallen and bumped her head?
Cautiously she reached behind her and felt a nylon strap. The strap seemed to be wrapped around a shrub of some sort. After some tugging and pulling, she learned that the strap ended up being attached to the satchel she always took on missions for the Auror office. As she gave it one last pull to bring it where she could reach it, her wand pulled free of the satchel, caught leverage from the shrub and smacked her across the forehead. Once again, Tonks found herself staring up at the clouds. Her wolf cub seems to have fallen backwards too.
Tonks sat up again, this time with a slight headache. She collected her wand and placed it up the sleeve to her robes. Opening the satchel, she was confused by what she found inside.
A thick history book filled most the space. History had never been her best subject, but that might have been because of Professor Binns. Sleep had always over taken her the second his voice started talking. As she pulled the thick volume out, she noticed a map of ancient Greece under the text. Reaching for it, her hand brushed something hard, and she pulled out a miniature hourglass on a long silver chain. What was she doing with a Time-Turner?
A piece of parchment was being used as a bookmark in the text, so she opened the book and pulled the parchment out. Unfolding it, she saw it was a letter.
Remus and Nymphadora,
Congratulations on your latest addition. I wish you lots of love and time with little Teddy.
I would ask others for help, but I don’t know who else to turn to. Time seems to be running against us. It seems that the Death Eaters have decided to explore the secrets of the Department of Mysteries. Nothing is sacred to them and they have striven to use everything at their disposal. The locked door has let none of them through, as it won’t let those with evil as their ultimate intent in. That has kept me and mine safe, but the secrets of the Time room have been breached.
The Time-Turners were all destroyed when young Harry and his friends were here two years ago. Since then, two have been recreated, but they are untested and seem to be a bit unstable. It is unknown if they will function as they should. One has been taken by the Death Eaters and they have disappeared into the past. I have cause to believe the two new Time-Turners are connected, so the other one will take whoever uses it to the same time. Unfortunately, I have no idea where or when it may be.
I managed to get the second Time-Turner and have enclosed it with this letter. The Death Eaters must be stopped before they change history for the worse.
I would try to take care of things myself, but I can’t leave my Department. I have managed to make arrangements for Binne, but if you have a chance, please check and make sure she is alright. She counts both of you as friends, and would trust you as no other.
Love and light be with you!
Declan Hurst
Behind the Locked Door
Memory filled Tonks as she realised Remus and she had taken to heart Declan’s request. They had planned and used the Time-Turner to stop the Death Eaters. Teddy was with her mother, but Remus should be with her. Where was he?
Tonks walked into the middle of the field and looked around. Over the trees that had started out behind her, she noticed what appeared to be chimney smoke. Walking towards the smoke, Tonks stayed aware of her surroundings.
The vegetation seemed to be very thick under the trees. Tonks had never seen so many unfamiliar plants and bushes in the forests around where she grew up. As she neared the end of the trees, she came across a road. She followed the road and saw a village up ahead.
There were several ladies drawing water from a well. None of them were dressed in witches’ robes. All seemed pulled from a Grecian Myth. Tonks realised she had gone further back in time then she had ever thought possible. Finding the appropriate clothing suddenly became her first priority. It would never do to stick out like a sore thumb. She didn’t want to alert the Death Eaters to her presence.
Sneaking through the trees, she found a house that was close to the trees. The doors were wide open, so she cautiously entered and found a chest with clothes in it. Quickly she put the clothes on and the darkened her features to look close to a painting she saw on the wall. There was nothing like being a Metamorphmagus to create a good disguise.
As she went to exit the house, someone came in and headed towards the back of the house. Staying out of sight, Tonks ducked behind a cabinet. The man passed out of sight, so she quickly moved out of the door but tripped when she was five feet from the door.
It took her a minute to stand back up since she knocked the breath out of herself. After she was back on her feet, Tonks took a good look around herself again. As she was turning back to the village, Tonks saw something that caused her breath to catch in her throat. In a panic, she turned back towards the trees, and stood in shock at the sight of her mother peeking out from behind one of the trees. Teddy was strapped to her chest with her cloak.
A wave of dizziness swept through Tonks as she realised her son and mother had somehow ended up back in time with her. Taking a deep breath to calm her fears, she tried to walk towards where she saw her mother hiding without seeming like she was freaking out on the inside. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, while her common sense was telling her to stay calm and not draw any unwanted attention.
Just when she was about to enter the trees, Tonks managed to get her feet tangled up and fell flat on her face. As she was trying to scramble up, she found her mother’s hand reaching down to help her.
“Mum, what are you doing here? How did you know it was me? Have you seen Remus anywhere?” Tonks frantically studied her son who was shying away from her.
“Nymphadora, calm yourself. I have no clue how we ended up here. I would have thought you would have known where Remus was, I haven’t seen him.” Andromeda tried to keep the squirming Teddy from falling out of her clock. “Would you please go back to your own features, so Teddy knows it is you?”
Tonks morphed her features back to their normal appearance. Teddy looked at his mother with an appeal that had her reaching for him and pulling him from her mother’s arms.
“It’s all right. Mum is here now.” Tonks took the cloak from her mother and wrapped Teddy close to her heart. He immediately cuddled close and fell asleep.
Looking at her mother’s clothing, she said, “We have to get you some appropriate clothing. I had to borrow this from that house over there. I can sneak in another house and get you something.”
“Let me have a look at what you have on.” Andromeda studied the gown and transfigured her own to look similar.
“I wish that was one skill I had picked up from you.” Tonks looked enviously at her mother and down at her dirt smeared dress. “I also wish I could clean things as well as you.”
Andromeda waved her wand at Tonks. “Scourgify! That should do!” Looking back at the village, she turned white as a ghost.
“What is it?” Tonks asked in concern.
“I just saw Bellatrix and Narcissa,” Andromeda whispered.
Tonks looked up in alarm. “We have to get out of sight.” She quickly studied the signs hanging from some of the buildings. “Over there looks like an inn. Quickly, we can’t let them see us.”
The two women hurried down the street and into the inn. Tonks looked for a place that would keep them out of sight if the Death Eaters entered. Everything looked so familiar. It took her a minute, but then Tonks realised it looked like the Leaky Cauldron.
“Mum, doesn’t this seem like the Leaky Cauldron?” Tonks asked in surprise.
Andromeda looked around too. “It can’t be. We are nowhere near London. I have no idea where we are, but I can’t understand a word anyone is saying. It is definitely not English. How will we stay out of sight and blend in, if we can’t talk to anyone?”
“Ah, that is one thing I know that you don’t,” Tonks smiled. Pulling her wand out, she discreetly waved it around herself and mother. “Lingua Reddo!”
Now they could understand what people were saying around them. They headed towards a table in the corner to plan what to do next.
“Well, well, well. . .,” Bellatrix Lestrange’s voice came from the doorway. “Look what the Kneazle dragged in.”
“Bella,” Andromeda protectively stepped in front of her daughter and grandson. “Cissy, what a surprise it is to meet you here.”
“What are a blood traitor and her werewolf-loving daughter doing here? Ah, and there is the ultimate abomination, a werewolf’s whelp.” Bellatrix sneered at the baby cuddled close to Tonks’ chest. “I vowed not to let any of you live and I mean to stand by that vow. A woman on this island has gotten some revenge for me. The werewolf is permanently a wolf now. It is lovely how you can convince others to take care of your unwanted problems.”
Tonks started at the reference to Remus. Trying to push past her mother, she clung to Teddy while almost in tears. “You better not have harmed Remus! I WILL find him and get him turned back.”
Bella laughed at the tears falling from her niece’s eyes. Narcissa seemed to be trying to hold her own tears in.
“You won’t live long enough to find him. . .” Bellatrix pulled out her wand and aimed it at her niece.
Andromeda was quicker to the draw, and Bellatrix and Narcissa were thrown backwards as the carpet under their feet was pulled away. She then grabbed Tonks and pulled her through a door in the back of the inn.
Tonks found herself in the kitchens, but she knew she didn’t have much time. She started to loosen the cloak holding Teddy to her, but was stopped by her mother’s hand.
“We can’t fight them here. There is no one else around to help us who will understand what is going on. The law would probably think we are the aggressors, so we can’t take the chance. We need to get out of this village and somewhere she can’t find us for the time being.” Andromeda kept pulling Tonks towards the back door.
“I can’t forgive what she called us! I will not feel bad about marrying Remus and my son is NOT an abomination.” Tonks was tripping over her feet and trying to blink back tears. “I have to find out what happened to Remus. She said she knew where he was.”
“Once we get Teddy somewhere safe you can go try to find Remus, but we have to get him to safety!” Andromeda tapped Tonks across the nose.
Blinking a few times, Tonks realised her mother was right. “I woke in a meadow just on the other side of those trees. We should Apparate there. I can’t side long you and Teddy, so just let me guide you there.”
Andromeda placed her hand on Tonks’ arm, and they both disappeared with a pop.
Tonks and Andromeda appeared in the meadow Tonks had woken up in. After some careful searching, they found a small wooden shack for Andromeda and Teddy to hide in. Between them, they put lots of protective charms around it, so no one would be able to sneak up on Andromeda. Tonks was determined to keep Teddy safe with any measure possible.
After getting Teddy and her mother set in the shack, Tonks went looking for the answers that would lead her to Remus. She also needed to figure out what the Death Eaters were up to. The insult from Bellatrix was not something she would let stand. Some way, somehow, she would get her back for it. In Tonks’ eyes, it was her aunt that was the abomination, not her son.
She set away from the village. Her goal was to find Remus or figure out what was going on before facing her aunts again. To figure it all out, she had to first figure out where and when she was.
As she traveled through the trees, Tonks realised that she didn’t recognise most of the tree types and all of the flowers and other plants were alien to her. The sun had set while she was setting the protective charms, and the stars were not like the ones she knew from home. They were brighter and though she saw one or two constellations she had seen before, they were from different angles.
The trees cleared and an ocean breeze fluttered her brown, lank hair around her face. Not knowing where Remus was had brought some of the depression she had felt when he would not recognise her love for him back. A steep cliff fell into a large body of water, and Tonks realised she had been smelling salt on the air since arriving here. That was very different from her home.
A strong feeling of loneliness had her feeling very vulnerable. Somehow, she needed to find Remus and get back to Teddy and her mother.
More wandering led her to a stone house, on top of a hill. She seemed to be on the backside of it. Cautiously, she walked around it. As she observed the house, she started to have some thoughts about her whereabouts.
Many beasts were wandering the forest around the house, most of them predators. The beasts really made her uneasy, especially when they all came up to her and tapped her hand to be petted. First she met a pair of lions, then a huge brown bear. The bear scared her so much she backed into a tree. All he did was rub his cold nose on her hand until she scratched behind his ears.
As she saw the front of the house, a wolf with familiar markings approached her. “Remus, is that you? You shouldn’t be a wolf, it isn’t the full moon! What Bellatrix said must have been true. I have to find a way to turn you back to a human.”
The wolf nuzzled her hand and urged her to approach the house. When she was a few feet from the house, she heard a woman with a wonderful voice singing. Peeking into the open door, she found a beautiful red haired woman wearing a purple robe weaving golden fabric such as she had never seen before.
Somehow, seeing the woman gave Tonks an idea of where and when she was. The fashion was definitely Greek and the architecture of the house added to that knowledge. She ducked behind a column and railing on the outside of the house before pulling the history book out of her satchel.
Looking at the index, Tonks found a section on Myths. When she turned to the Greek section, she found a picture very similar to the woman she saw weaving in the house. As she read the story, it all became clear. She also knew what had happened to Remus. Circe of Greek legend had changed her husband into a wolf. Now she had to find a way of convincing her to change him back.
Looking through the herbs in the garden, Tonks found Moly which she knew from the book and ate some. Now she was protected from Circe’s mind control potions. She recast the translating charm and approached the doorway again.
“Hello? Could I speak to the lady of the house?” Tonks called from the doorway.
Circe stopped singing, put down her weaving and came to greet her guest. “I am the lady who rules here. How can I help you?”
Tonks stood in indecision for a moment. Studying the lady in front of her, she decided to try being up front. “This wolf here is my husband and the father to my child. I can’t imagine raising our son without his help. Could I please get you to change him back to a man?”
Circe’s eyes went blank and she started to speak:
“Wolf to man to change the time,
Spells to find and charms to guide.
Research ends before the chime,
Or the wolf shall here reside.
The stone is for protections sake,
Black the blood behind the search.
Find the soul before they take,
Or in time the soul shall lurch.
Potters find the soil rich,
Hearts to find the love inside.
Myths to legend are the glitch,
Circe’s blood within shall hide.”
Tonks looked at the woman in blind incomprehension for a minute. Then she realised Circe held a necklace out to her and her eyes were clouded as if in a vision. Taking the necklace, she noticed it had a dark green stone attached. Hanging the necklace around her neck, she realised it must be the stone for protection. Now she just had to decipher the rest of the riddle.
As Tonks turned to leave, Circe seemed to break out of the trance she was in when she spoke the vision. Taking in the foreigner in front of her, Circe smiled.
“I realize I just had a vision of some sort. I have no idea what I spoke, but if you need somewhere to think or do some research, there is a library of sorts if you follow the path towards the sunset. If I may be of help later on, come back to call tomorrow.” Circe held her head as if it pained her as she walked back into the house.
Having no other ideas of where to start, Tonks headed off in the direction Circe had pointed with the wolf close behind her. As she walked down the barely visible path, Tonks dug her hand into the wolf’s fur. It felt good to know Remus was there, even if it wasn’t the form she was used to seeing. Looking into his eyes, she could tell he understood.
At the end of the trail and over looking the ocean, she found a building that was more cave than man built. No one seemed to be about, but Tonks changed her features to look more like the natives again. Entering the door, she looked around in dismay. Scrolls lay in niches, across tables and even scattered across the floor. There seemed to be no order to where the ancient, and sometimes fragile, scrolls were placed. It looked like a tornado had run through the place and left it all in disarray.
Her heart sunk in the hopelessness of the situation. Tonks sat down on a stone bench tucked in a corner and started to write down the words Circe had spoken, thankful that her Auror training had encompassed dialogue recall spells. As she was looking the words over, she heard voices approaching. Turning towards the entrance, Tonks held her wand at the ready under her sleeve.
As she waited, Tonks was thankful she had disguised herself when she realised the voices were those of her aunts. She wanted nothing more then to attack them while she had the advantage, but she knew now wasn’t the time. Remus had moved outside and hid out of sight before their “guests” had shown up.
Watching from the shadows, Tonks observed Bellatrix and Narcissa as they entered the room and looked around. They seemed as overwhelmed as she had felt.
“How are we supposed to find any answers in here?” Bellatrix asked in exasperation.
“You were the one that wanted to use this confounded thing!” Narcissa pulled a Time-Turner from under her robes. “Now we have to figure out how to get back to our time and home. Why I let you talk me into using an untested magical object is beyond me. I knew it wasn’t a typical Time-Turner.”
Home! That is where Tonks wanted so much to be right now. Finding the way to get her family back to the world she knew was paramount in her thoughts. This time was so alien to what she knew she couldn’t imagine trying to raise her son without her friends around. Here she had nothing. In her time there was war and things weren’t safe, but she knew all the perils and had others to help her. Here her husband was a wolf, her mother and son had no reliable shelter and she didn’t know the rules.
A scream of frustration brought her back to where her aunts were searching through the scrolls. After hesitating a moment, Tonks stepped out of the shadows. After a flash of fear, she realised they wouldn’t have recognised her anyhow. . . her features were still changed.
“Is there anything that I can help you find? I’m afraid no one has cared for this cache of knowledge for ages, but an extra set of eyes could help find anything.” Tonks feigned friendliness towards her aunts.
Bellatrix aimed her wand at Tonks and started a curse before Narcissa hit her wand up and away from Tonks. “Bella, no! You can’t curse everyone because you are feeling frustrated. Maybe this. . .” Narcissa looked the disguised Tonks up and down, “ . . person can decipher the riddle. It is obvious that we are getting nowhere fast.”
Bellatrix eyed Tonks with distrust and hissed, “If you insist. We are running out of options.” After a moment, something seemed to occur to her and her wand came back up, “Cissy, she spoke ENGLISH! The only ones that we’d be able to understand would be Andromeda and her brat!”
Tonks changed her appearance back to normal as she raised her wand. Before she had finished, Bellatrix started yelling “Avada…”
Before she finished, Narcissa had knocked her arm up again and yelled “Petrificus Totalus.”
Bellatrix stood there frozen. If looks could kill, Narcissa would have been burnt to a crisp. “Bella, I just understood part of the riddle. If you kill her, we will never get back to the Dark Lord!”
Bellatrix’s frozen features somehow seemed to look thoughtful.
“What do you mean? What do you know that I don’t know?” Tonks angrily stood in front of her aunts. “I followed you using a Time-Turner that is somehow connected to yours and I find myself and those I hold most dear caught here in the past. I need some answers, and I need them NOW.”
Narcissa waved a piece of parchment about, as Bellatrix moved her eyes as if nodding.
Narcissa sneered at her niece before answering, “We thought we were going back a few hours, instead we found ourselves back a few thousand years. It is pointless to change anything now because it could lead to the world we know disappearing entirely. Some wizard walked up to us and handed us this piece of paper. We couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying, except that his name seemed to be Hermes.”
“Wait a minute, you met Hermes?” Tonks stared at Narcissa for a minute, and then she grabbed her satchel and pulled the history book out. She flipped to the page about Circe and skimmed through it. “I met Circe and you met Hermes. I think that we are in the middle of what is our Myth of Odysseus. Is there any chance I can see what Hermes gave you?”
Narcissa looked at Bellatrix for a moment before handing the parchment over. Tonks took the offered parchment and read.
Potters find the soil rich,
Hearts to find the love inside.
Myths to legend are the glitch,
Circe’s blood within shall hide.
Black blood must together work,
Time will catch them otherwise.
Temporary peace the perk,
Homeward bound is the prize.
Make truth the myth in life to be,
Before the chimes shall ring.
It takes six to achieve the plea,
Two hearts together to bring.
“The first part is the same as the last four lines I was given. It looks like we will have to work together to get back home or we’ll be stuck here.” Tonks handed what she had written to Narcissa. “It looks like the six of us that came back will all play a part in getting us back. I can’t figure what Teddy will do, but somehow he will help.”
“You mean we have to save the werewolf too?” Bellatrix looked in disgust at Remus who had slunk in while they were talking.
Tonks walked over to Remus and put her hand in his fur, “Yes for one of us to get back, it will take ALL of us.”
Tonks walked out of the library and sent her Patronus to get her mother. It didn’t seem like a good idea to let Bellatrix and Narcissa know about that safe place, just in case it was needed again. They might have to work together for a while, but Tonks would never trust them. From the growling coming from Remus, he wouldn’t either.
As they reentered the library, Bellatrix was searching through the scrolls. “How are any of these going to help us? I can’t read ancient Greek, and I don’t think any of you can either.”
“There has to be some reason we were sent here, though I have no clue what it is,” Tonks said.
Remus was sniffing through a few parchments and grabbed one and brought it over to Tonks. He nudged her hand until she took it.
“What is this?” Tonks unrolled the scroll, but couldn’t understand a word of it.
Narcissa and Bellatrix came over to see if they could make out anything. “I don’t understand any of that either,” Narcissa said. Bellatrix nodded in agreement.
Remus whined in frustration. Then he gently put his paws on Tonks legs, lifted himself up and pulled on the necklace Circe had given her.
“Should I take this to Circe? Is that what you are trying to say?” Tonks asked. Remus nodded his head in acknowledgement.
Tonks looked up and looked at her aunts. “I’m going to take this to Circe. You can stay here and try to find something else, or come with me. It’s your choice.”
Tonks headed back into the trees with Remus just in front of her. She noticed that her aunts were following a bit behind them.
Remus held back as they approached the house. He hid behind some of the bushes near the house.
As she got closer to the house Tonks realised that things seemed different then earlier. Pigs were wandering through the gardens, which is the last place pigs should have been. A movement at the corner of her vision had her watching a man creep away from the house with fear all over his demeanor.
Then things clicked into place. This was a scene right out of the Odyssey. If she were to follow the man sneaking way, she would be led straight to Odysseus. That must be what they were to do, make sure Circe and Odysseus ended up together! Now all she had to do was figure out what the chimes were, and finish the mission before they chimed. She wanted her husband back.
A few hours later, Tonks was standing outside of the camp that Odysseus and his men had set up. Half of them were here, while the rest were pigs back at Circe’s house. She watched while the man that had escaped Circe talked to the camp and then as the man led another one back towards Circe’s. As they entered the trees, a tall blonde man approached them and talked for a while with Odysseus.
“What do you think you are doing? We are trying to get back home, and you are spying on some natives.” Bellatrix stepped out of the darkness and glared at her.
“I know part of what we are supposed to do. We need to make sure that Circe and Odysseus end up together. That tall blonde man is the one that gave you the parchment, isn’t he?” Tonks asked.
Bellatrix looked through the trees and nodded.
“Then Hermes just told Odysseus about the plant which will keep him from succumbing to Circe’s magic. Now we need to make sure that they fall in love.” Tonks looked thoughtful for a moment. “Did Mum and Teddy get to Circe’s yet?”
“Cissy and your mother are back in the clearing by her house. I still don’t understand what we are all supposed to do,” Bellatrix sneered at her niece.
Tonks studied her a moment. “I’m not sure, but let’s go find out.”
They both headed back into the trees.
As they approached the house on the hill, Tonks heard Teddy crying. Quickly she raced to her mother’s side, tripping just before she reached them. Pain filled her as she landed face first at her mother’s feet.
“That was graceful,” Narcissa observed sarcastically.
“What’s wrong? Why is Teddy crying?” Tonks worriedly took her son from her mother.
As she tried to calm Teddy down, a voice came out of the dark. “Mistress asks that you come to visit.” A small house-elf appeared from the shadows.
Narcissa and Bellatrix looked like they didn’t understand the elf. Then Tonks realised her translation spell from earlier was still in effect, so her mother and her could understand the ancient Greek but her aunts could not. Quickly she performed the spell again so that they could understand also.
The four women found themselves ushered into the front room of the house. A table stocked full of food sat along one wall. The loom Circe had been weaving at earlier was pulled into a corner. A few house-elves were performing small tasks around the hall.
“You don’t know the men that have come here, do you?” Circe looked up from a cushion on the floor.
“The only man we know is this wolf,” Tonks knelt down to where Remus had hidden behind her. Remus touched his cold nose to Teddy’s leg and Teddy laughed.
Circe’s eyes seemed to flash some pain at seeing the love that stretched between Remus, Teddy and Tonks. At that moment, loneliness seemed to come off her in waves, but bitterness was there also.
“Once I had hoped to have a man love me and provide me with children. I thought I could get him to care for me, but he never did. Since then, I have turned men into what they are. . . beasts.” Circe had a look of sorrow as she told her story.
Tonks picked Teddy back up and walked over to her. “Not all men are beasts. Remus here has had his share of sorrow. He has been a werewolf since he was a toddler, yet he has never let it change him into the beast during the times that are not a full moon. Many people that are bitten figure they have no choice but to become the beast. He loves Teddy and me and would do what he can to protect us.” Remus wagged his tail as if agreeing with her.
Circe looked at them as if trying to rearrange her thinking.
Narcissa stepped up and added, “If you never let a man get close, then you can never know the joy of having a child or just a quick moment in his arms. Men can surprise you sometimes, if you just give them a chance.”
Bellatrix laughed. “All men think of only one thing, the power they can get by being with you! I think you have a great way of dealing with them.”
At that moment, footsteps sounded outside. Odysseus cautiously looked in the door and seemed surprised to find so many women inside. Circe looked at him as if seeing a man for the first time.
“My elves will show you where you can clean up a bit. I will think on what you have said.” Circe then linked arms with Odysseus and offered him food from the table.
Tonks woke to find Bellatrix missing from the room. Scurrying to her feet, Tonks went in search of her aunt. Some instinct led her to Circe’s room. As she glanced inside, she found Bellatrix aiming her wand at the sleeping couple. Quickly she cast a silencing charm so the couple wouldn’t wake up, and then faced her aunt.
“What do you think you are doing? Circe has opened her home to us, and seems to be about ready to help us get home. She can’t do that if you harm her!” Tonks said.
“A witch like this would be much better off without a man controlling her.” Bellatrix aimed her wand at her niece. “The spell on that werewolf is broken, so our truce is over. I want to see you scream before you die! Crucio!”
Tonks braced herself for pain, but it never came. The necklace around her neck began to glow a bright gold, and then the curse reversed back to her aunt. Bellatrix fell to the floor and screamed in pain. After a few seconds she was quiet.
As she slowly pulled herself back to her feet, Bellatrix glared at her niece. “What kind of magic is this? I have never seen something that could reverse a curse like this.”
“It is the necklace I gave her.” Circe’s voice came from behind Bellatrix. “It reverses all harmful spells back on the caster. Part of the prophecy I gave to her included protection from all harm until she gets back home.”
Tonks smiled at Circe before turning back to Bellatrix, “The riddles we were giving said we had to work together until we get home. Without me, you won’t get back.”
“There is more. . . if you harm this man or me, your own existence would be destroyed. I have come to realize that we are ancestors of yours,” Circe added.
Bellatrix looked shocked at her statement, but then turned and headed back towards where her sisters slept.
A few hours later, Tonks reentered the hall with Remus by her side. Her aunts and mother were still resting in the back rooms. Teddy was sleeping in his grandmother’s arms.
No one was visible as she walked up to the table to see what enchantments she could pick up. She didn’t dare eat anything for fear of the consequences. As she pondered her next move, soft footsteps sounded behind her. Turning quickly, she saw Circe walking as if in a trance.
“What have you decided?” Tonks asked.
“I think you are correct. Not all men are beasts. Somehow this Odysseus has managed to stay unaffected by my enchantments. He asks that I return his men, but I don’t know the spell that would do that. I would also return your man to you, if I could.” Circe looked up at Tonks with tears in her eyes. “The one woman with you has a dark heart. I have no wish to end up like her. I think the blond woman and you speak true when you say you have found love.”
Tonks pulled the scroll Remus had found out and handed it to Circe. “I have a feeling this is the spell you are looking for. I can’t read it to try and return Remus to himself. I would be forever in your debt if you would give him back to me.”
Andromeda walked out with Teddy still in her arms. She handed the sleeping baby to his mother and walked over to Circe. “I know that love can be hard. I had to go against my entire family to follow my heart. At least you don’t have to give up the life you have known to find it.”
Circe took Andromeda’s hands and something silent passed between them. Andromeda pulled Circe into an embrace when Circe started to sob. After she had cried herself out, Andromeda dried her tears and together they walked over to Tonks.
“Until now, I haven’t realised the space I have been putting between myself and the rest of the human population. I will get to know people before deciding what they deserve from now on,” Circe said.
Circe unrolled the parchment and studied it for a moment. Then she raised her hands and started singing. The song was raw but powerful. Tonks couldn’t understand any of it, but tears filled her eyes as Remus started to glow. After Circe stopped singing, the glow disappeared and there stood her loving husband. Tonks rushed blindly to his side and felt his arms surround her.
“If you go into town, you will find two bars. The one that is in disrepair has what you are looking for. Tell the Barkeep “The woodpecker sleeps” and he will give you a box. It will get you where you long to go,” Circe said as she turned and walked back to her new lover.
Tonks handed Teddy to Remus and went to get her aunts. The four women, baby and man walked through a crowd of sleeping men outside the house and found their way to the town.
Tonks entered the filthy bar alone. She spoke Circe’s words to the barkeep and he leered at her before reaching under the bar. He pulled a dusty box out and shoved it towards her. “Two turns should do it,” he whispered gruffly.
As Tonks walked out of the building chimes began to sound. Everything shook for a minute before settling down.
One lady was standing with her children, and looked surprised. “Those are chimes I never thought I’d here. The curse on Circe has been lifted!”
That solved the mystery about the chimes in the riddle. Tonks was glad she was able to get Remus back before Odysseus had joined Circe.
Tonks returned to her family and looked them over one more time. It was weird to see her mother standing beside her sisters. It was a sight she had never thought to see.
“I hope you don’t expect this to change anything. The next time I see you, your life is forfeit. You have dishonored our family by wedding this beast,” Bellatrix said as Tonks opened the box.
“I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Tonks said softly.
Narcissa seemed about to say something to Andromeda, but something held her back. Tonks pulled out a silver Time-Turner and turned it twice.
Everything went black.
Family Truce by Cheshlin
Chapter Notes: I would just like to say that this round was a lot of fun to write. Thanks Nikki, Abbi and CM for being such a big help.