Echoed Lives

“No running in the house, Harry. In ten minutes, we begin class.” Lily declared loudly for her son who was somewhere in the manor playing.

Since he woke up, Harry was in an adventure to fight a dragon and save the wixen of the village nearby, Barty was his acolyte – Harry not having many friends made Lily guilty as she didn’t want any more children, but her pregnancy had been painful and traumatic. Her son had a vivid imagination and a joy to live, although he was a little reckless as were most children before they knew the risks better.

For Harry, classes could wait, his adventure couldn’t.

“Master Harry, Mistress said to not run.” The elf pleaded the boy while following him.

“Hush the dragon will hear you.” Said Harry, his finger on his own lips to command the silence, an imaginary wand in hand. Crouching behind a decorative table with a vase full of fresh flowers.

Harry was observing the living room, focused on the couch where the dangerous creature had apparently made its nest, when he jumped and screamed: “Here it comes! Prepare your magic Barty, I’ll go first, support me.” An amusing – for Lily - imitation of a war cry followed.

“Master Harry, be careful.” Said Barty fretting.

Harry didn’t pay attention, all his focus was on his enemy. Moving his arm widely, it hit the table, more precisely the vase. Broken porcelain noise resonated from the living room to the ears of his mother.

Lily dropped the knife and vegetables and ran towards the noise.

“Harry, you are all right?” Asked Lily apprehension in her clear voice.

When she arrived on the scene, Harry was still swinging his arm like there was no tomorrow. Barty let itself fade in the background as was expected of a good elf when the master or mistress were here.

“Harry James Potter, when I call you, you answer. Stop and look at me, I am talking to you.” At the tone of his mother, Harry wisely put his imaginary wand away, lowering his eyes. “You broke the vase, it’s precious to Dad you know ? And you could have been hurt. What do you have to say for yourself ?”

Frowning from incomprehension, Harry thought his mom sometimes forgot she was a witch. “Mom, Barty or you could repair it just like that.” Said the child roughly imitating the casting movement for Reparo. “I don’t see the problem, we have magic, we can do anything.”

In the multiple parenting fears she had, she didn’t think of the blindness to consequences due to having magic. Lily stayed silent until she had arranged arguments well enough. She hoped this was a lesson she could teach him instead of him learning it the hard way. But people rarely get their wish granted. In the end, Lily, herself, would be the reason her wish wouldn’t be fulfilled. 

“Darling, there is a lot magic can’t do and shouldn’t do either. Yes, we can repair the vase, but some artefacts if broken can be dangerous or must be remade again. I’m not mad, I just want you to know not to rely too much on magic for everything. To learn to do without in case you have to.”

“Like you cook without magic ? But dad does everything with magic, why ?  Could I become a … muggle ? I don’t want to be unable to do… everything. What can muggles even do ?”

Harry’s nose scrunched up at the idea of having no magic. How awful. Everyone knew magic was everything. What would he do without it ?

Since the Dark Lord was in power, Lily had resented and feared being associated with muggles, for her own protection, but not out of disgust. She didn’t know how to approach the subject, not wanting her son to sprout pro-muggle ideas but this ignorance was appalling.

“Harry, you see how dad is so good at spells better than me, and I am better at potions or runes than dad? Even if we’re not good at something, we are good at something else. It’s the same for muggles, they don’t have magic, but that doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous or that they can’t do anything. Muggles can be smart and find a way to imitate what magic can do. Of course, muggles are lesser,” Saying that hurt more than she thought it would, she wasn’t sure if she should encourage such blatant discrimination, but Harry’s safety was paramount, “but we shouldn’t underestimate them. Like… insects can hurt us, so can muggles. You understand ?”

This comparison made her shiver from the disgust she felt for herself, the image of her late family in mind haunting her. In Harry’s mind, the comparison made no sense, this whole conversation wasn’t interesting, but his mom clearly felt deeply about it.

“Do muggles have stinge... stink ? Eight arms ?” Asked Harry, trying to understand her words.

“A sting, love. And no, what I mean is insects are small and muggles don’t have magic, so it’s easy to think we are invincible in front of them but that’s not true. They can hurt us if we are not careful.” Explained Lily, wishing she could tell him that muggles were just the same as them without magic and that not having magic didn’t make them less, maybe when he was older.

“Ok, mom.” Said the child fidgeting, “Can I go play now? I’ll be careful.”

“Yes darling, five minutes then we start class. This afternoon, Uncle Remus is going to teach you, I have work to do.” A humming answered her.

What having Harry had taught her was that parenting was a lot of repetition. Her son would not learn without more talks or experience, and maturity, but she would be there for him. When the five minutes passed, Lily collected Harry who was dragging his feet. Lily knew just the trick to get her son interested, “What do you say we search for the weirdest application of a spell or a rune ?”

“Oh yes, I’m going to win. Last time, I found a spell which could tell how many glasses they were in the circle and where they were. Why just glasses and not mugs or vials ?” Said Harry bouncing already.

“Today, I was more thinking about me explaining a spell to you and we think together of all the circumstances we can use it in. What do you say?” Asked Lily, smiling, she had always loved Harry’s passion for magic. Since he was born in magic, she had feared he would be like some purebloods who didn’t worship magic at all, found it ordinary even.

“Circomstace ?”, said Harry blinking and tilting his head askance.

“A circumstance, a situation.” Lily explained while sitting cross-legged on miss-matched cushions in the second living room used more for the casual part of their classes. “In example, the spell Wingardium Leviosa permits you to levitate objects. What can you think of ?”

“Er. Can you levitate every object ?”

“Yes, the heavier the harder at first.”

“Why is weight important ?”

“It’s more that our mind thinks magic works like our muscles. If something heavy is harder for our muscles and we think it’ll be harder for magic too. It’s more our own mind playing a trick on us. Magic is intent, Harry. You must want something very hard and think you can have or do it. Anyway, how could you use it ?”

“If I’m lazy and don’t want to move, I can levitate something towards me. I could prank people by making them believe there is a poltergeist…Er.” Said Harry, his fingers playing with the fabric of the cushion and eyes fixed on the horizon.

“Spells can be tiring, using them too much can deplete your reserve. But good ideas. If I’m not mistaken, you were fighting a dragon just now, how could this spell help you?”, she said lovingly, making Harry think was her favourite part of teaching him. Where magic was, the real power was creativity.

“Oh, I know. I’ll throw a rock at it, or I’ll do-”

The afternoon continued like most afternoons in the Potter manor, interrupted by the entrance of Remus and later her beloved husband, with laughs and endless discussions. 

****

“-cy, Percy, they’re here. Let go of that book dear,” said Molly loudly, hunched on the guardrails of stairs between the second and third story. 

While she descended, her husband greeted the Potters and their company with a joke and polite inquiries. The couple entered, followed by Remus and Harry who busted at the search for his friends.

“James, how does Auror work treating you ?” Arthur gestured them to sit on their maroonish sofa as he took place on his usual leather chair. Through the double window, Lily could see the garden from there, Harry was already in the garden with Ron and Ginny brooms in hand. 

“Oh please, Arthur, don't let him start.” Said Lily, patting her husband tight jokingly. “He can’t stop himself.” 

“Too true, love. Too true. I will tell you all about it when the children have gone out. We don’t want them to have nightmares.” 

James winked at Fred and George who looked affronted to be called children. After all, they were already at Hogwarts. 

“But Remus here can tell you all about his new book,” said Lily while gesturing towards the worn out looking young man sitting on the copper couch at her right, “another treasure for academia.” 

The children had tiptoed away discreetly, not wanting to get stuck in the boring conversation. Not used to the attention, Remus rubbed his forearms, eyes down but a small smile on.

“Oh good on you, lad. What’s it about?” Asked jolly Arthur, inviting Remus to elaborate with his excited demeanour. “Molly, come dear. Remus has a new book.” 

Molly was at the bottom of the stairs when she heard him, reaching for her favourite chair, a rocking one. “I’m here. Do tell Remus.” 

“Er. Another book for students, you know me, being a teacher is a dream of mine,” he said, grating his teeth at the injustice, but he gracefully added, “but well, the opportunity hasn’t presented itself yet. I train myself to be a better teacher while writing those manuals.” 

Everyone nodded easily, nonetheless awkwardness filled them at the collective thought : Remus was never going to a teacher. No werewolf would.  

“Well, when I see what Harry learns, I can only applaud you,” said the matriarch. 

“And you, how are you with Ginevra and Ronald ? It must be hard work, James and I are already submerged by work and taking care of Harry and we have Remus and Sirius to help.” 

“The worst are the holidays. Everyone in the house makes such a ruckus. But seeing them together, being together warms our heart.” 

Looking at the children playing made Molly’s heart too full to bare, but crying with an audience wasn’t a habit of hers. Noticing her turmoil, her husband turned to Lily joking. 

“With you in the house, we have the whole family reunited, once again.” 

James, already at the edge of his seat, said, “Don’t keep me guessing, I want the story. Now that I think of it, you never told me how you knew the Weasleys, I just assumed.”  

“You make a big deal out of it, but really it's not much, love.” 

“You hear that Molly, it isn’t much. Well then.” 

“Oh no, don’t make me feel guilty. You’re awfully harsh today,” joked the redhead young woman, a malicious smirk on her freckled face. 

“You’re being a tease, I want the story even more now.” 

“Well, I will tell you, even if it isn’t much,” Said Arthur huffing in good nature, “Hogwarts starts in a month, all the family is out in Diagon Alley scattered in different shops. When comes the time to go, not one of them at the meeting place. Typical. Molly and I with Ronald and Ginny are searching for them in the fully packed alley. Molly sees a ginger pop, she doesn’t stop to think and grab them by the coat-”

“You’re not telling the story right. I was holding a crying Ginevra, Ronald was at our feet begging to be picked up too. Suddenly there’s a ginger wixen with Charlie’s hair running away from us. Of course, I stop them. I admit I didn’t check before going all on them to see if it was Charlie. And–it was this nice girl, who helped us find our children.” 

As she described the scene, she gazed fondly at Lily. 

“Really it wasn’t much, and I gained all of you. I’m the one who won the most here.” Said Lily while remembering the feeling of being part of a family again, even if not her own. After the laws made seeing her family impossible, she had felt completely alone, no roots to cling to. 

“Dear, you are still working at the Department of Mysteries, don’t you? That’s impressive, not many get to ever put a foot inside their hallway.” Arthur added puffing out his chest while rearranging his jacket and holding his head high.

As she listened, she leaned away from them, sinking in the couch getting confort in the warm light falling from the window behind her. 

“You know, work. Not always pleasant, but–interesting. Really. I… It’s nice.” 

The Weasley couple exchanged looks and decided against saying anything, but the hunched shoulders of their daughter in everything but name made them ache. 

“If you feel like you need a change in scenery, I’m sure there is a place in my humble department. Or somewhere else, a shop. You don’t have to keep the same occupation your entire life, Lily. I changed twice, and maybe I’ll change again.” 

Arthur always gave good advice, he wasn’t much older than them but she saw him as a father figure and those words meant more to her than she thought they would. 

Then, James jumped turning to the back on the sofa, taking both arms to grab the twins hidden behind it. “You rascals !” 

Surprised, George – or Fred – let go of a blue ball. As it touched the parquet, it made a small explosion of blue particles going as far as the coffee table. Lily was completely blue. James too. 

Stunned, no one reacted until James snorted. Then laughter erupted from Lily, Remus and Arthur. Even Molly aborred a tiny smile, but tried staying stern - a parent’s life was hard. As her role of mother dictated, she looked at Arthur disapprovingly for laughing, but really she was having a hard time not following them. 

“What is it, boys? I want it.” 

“A prototype for-” “-a secret project,” answered the twins together with matching grins, their faces as blues as James and Lily’s. 

“You are going to be renowned inventors.” Said Remus, impressed by their ingenuity. “Do you mind explaining to me how you worked the formula ? I could guide you if you want. But I am even more curious about what you will do next.” 

After multiple Scourgify, everyone was back to normal and Remus was following the twins outside. 

“-with James, yes. We made some interesting bits of magic. I’ll tell you about some. But first, how did you choose which base to take ? How many trials ? Or you had- ” 

“Boys don’t forget we eat in thirty minutes.” 

“Molly, I think they’re lost to inventions. Not much to do here.”

“Then, Arthur is the same. Since his newly added function on his car, it’s all he can talk about.” Said Molly, sighing in good nature. 

Arthur reached for her arm softly, tilted his head and with a tone of confidence added, “Well Molly dear wouldn’t brag but she spelled this clock when the boys became older and she couldn’t stop worrying.” 

He pointed towards the clock adorning the wooden beam, contrary to typical clocks it had nine hands, one for each member. Today, every hand pointed towards “At home”. 

At the compliment, she rolled her eyes, but smiling she continued, “I did. And I have another idea for a clock. You know how it is you’re running around the house, the children playing, there’s some much to do. I want a clock that tells me if we’re running late, maybe  some more. We’ll see.” 

“A family of inventors, really,” said Lily in wonder.

“Nothing that impressive, dear.” 

****

Today was Samhain, Harry loved this day, Mom and Dad always made an effort to be here together and have a big party. Sirius would be there, he tried to be here for Yule and his birthdays too.

Harry hadn’t decided what prank he would do, but a scary one for sure. First, he needed to hear his parents' plan for the day. He tiptoed in the corridor, placed himself against the wall next to the kitchen’s door where his parents talked.

“-my project could never be used, of course, but I questioned whether I should go through with it at all. It is highly …unethical.” Said Lily, frowning, her hands occupied on cooking.

“Can’t you change projects?” asked James, his wand swirling to wash the dishes. 

“I mean… Yes, I could. But how would that make me look? It was hard enough getting this job, and I feel like I must prove myself again and again. Prove that I’ll choose magic before anything, that I am not the typical … muggleborn, that I am more magic than muggle. And I don’t think anything I do would make them change their minds about me being too muggle, but they could get worse. Also, if I am the one to do it, maybe I can make it better, or not as cruel as they would imagine it ?”

Lily had completely stopped cooking and turned towards James to look at him for support. James stayed silent, they had had their fair share of obstacles since coming together, more to do with others being the obstacle than them having to choose their conduct on their morals. With James’s legacy, following their morals had been easier than for most. 

“James, what they want to do, it’s…monstrous, they’re ste-.”

Lily gasped, pain floored her chest and head, she had said too much for her vow. James rushed to take her in his arms, worry wrinkled his face, the risks his wife took to fulfil her career were getting exponentially high. Both were oblivious to the eavesdropping.

Harry dashed to her study, he knew what he would do: become a monster, that’ll scare them. He was sure there would be a potion or two to help him. He was now on a secret mission to scavenge the potions. Arriving at the door, he took the doorknob, only to realise the door was closed. How could he prank his parents now? Huffing, he wanted to hit something but if his mom found him, she wouldn’t be happy, her office was off limits. He wanted the door to open so much that he kept on trying the doorknob because surely it would open. Uncle Remus says that if you want something enough it happens. He tried again, one more time, one more time, one more time - then just for him, the door decided to open.

Harry closed the door behind. It was so hard to not scream his happiness to the world, but he wanted to surprise them. They never fell for his scary pranks, but today they would. 

He didn’t remember the walls being blue. Her desk was as packed with papers, books and vials of different colours and shapes than it always was. Some books had bright covers, or fluffy ones, maybe he could take one or two. Mom always says, ‘knowledge is power’ and to read, read and read.

But he wasn’t there for that, he didn’t know what potions to drink but his mom said she was working on it. Then any potions on the desk would work, and if the first doesn’t work he could try another. Obviously if he felt bad, he’d tell mom, or maybe more dad he won’t yell as much. They treat him, magic can do anything.

His hand flew over the vials multiple times before choosing a green long one and gulping it down. Harry waited, the taste was like sour fruits, touching his face and teeth to check for feathers or longer canines. Would he resemble a werewolf, or a veela – where veelas only girls ? -, maybe a vampire ?

Feeling nothing, Harry swallowed a small yellow vial which let a lumpy taste on his tongue. Pain in his stomach flashed, he leaned on the chair screaming for help. Tears on his cheeks, he scratched his stomach to get rid of the stabbing pain. He shouldn’t have drunk this one. Yellow is the worst colour. The sculpted chair, the vials of every inimaginable hues, lone papers, every object around him flung into the walls. 

“Harry, what is it ? Are you hurt ? Tell me where ?” asked his mom trying to stay calm, she browsed through the room and saw the vials emptied. “Did you drink those ?” 

Lily was panicking, the first vial was a slow amplification agent, but mixed with the second, a magic syphoning potion, could react unexpectedly. She casted a diagnostic spell on her son, it declared food poisoning which wasn’t helpful at all.

“James come ! Harry dear, I am going to make you throw up, you hear ? Don’t panic, it’s going to be alright, darling,” said Lily, with a small smile negated by her uncertain look.

Throwing the spell at Harry who was writing and screaming on the ground, Lily took his body in her arms, hugging while he threw up. His magic calmed too, no more objects flying out of the shelves.

“It’s going to be okay darling, we have you. Barty, Bart-“, called Lily, as the elf interrupted her.

“Yes mistress ? Is master Harry alright ?” The elf’s high-pitched voice reached a new high with worry.

“No. Call James, tell him to call a mediwixen, Harry is poisoned… Now Barty !” Barked the desperate mother, rocking her son barely breathing.

The wait was getting longer, she didn’t know if Harry would survive.

Not hearing his whines anymore, Lily put her cheek towards his mouth to check if he was breathing. She spiralled as she couldn’t feel a breath.

Harry wasn’t going to die, she would make sure of it.

Lying his body on the ground, she tried to create an influx of air in his lungs with an elemental spell while massaging his heart. But to no avail, he wasn’t breathing, and she didn’t know how much time he had before the mediwixen came. Lily was a mistress in runes and arithmancy, she knew more about rituals than the common folks and even the researchers in the Department of Mysteries. Especially blood rituals. That was why they couldn’t get rid of her without losing one of their best elements, ironically despite her blood. 

Searching erratically through her stuff for her ritual knives, some books and papers fell on the floor, but she paid them no mind. Taking one book with a golden cover, she searched for a particular page and took a paper at random to draw her runes.

Without any hesitation, she cut her arm enough for blood to flood, taking the blood she made a circle around Harry and began to draw runes. She was so utterly focused, there was no pause to think about the consequences. Her determination was too strong.

Drawing the runes of exchange, energy, life and death on the torso of Harry, she teared up as she cut the flesh of her love. But it had to be done. She did the same on her torso, wincing at the pain. Then Lily said the ritual’s casting words knowing they would be her last.

Excruciating pain came in a flash and all she could think of was pain and her hope for Harry’s life. She didn’t stay awake long. No heartbeat, no breath. There was only the sound of their blood flowing.

If James or their elf had come back at this moment, they could have seen white silhouettes hovering above their bodies, mixing, spiralling together, before one went in a body while the other disappeared. 

A breath.

Two breaths. Breathing could be heard again.

James ran in the room panicking, while the mediwitch walked,  used to parents overestimating the dangerousness of their child’s situation.

“Lily ? Harry ? Please breathe. What have you done?” James was on the ground, crying hysterically until he felt a breath from his wife. “She’s alive, please do something !”

The mediwitch hurried up, revaluating the situation. She pushed James gently but firmly to check her constants with a diagnostic spell and her hand trying to feel a breath.

“Mr. Potter, I am sorry she’s not breathing.” She reported gently. “I have to check your son.”

“No, it can’t be… I… Why ?” James was not making any sense, horror in his eyes between the tears.

Harsh coughing trembled Harry’s body, like he was taking a breath after being under water. The mediwitch casted several spells to check his health, but except for high heartbeat there was nothing.

“Mr. Potter, I know it’s hard, but your son is alive and he needs you. Please, I need to ask you some questions, yes ?” She asked while trying to make him sit up and looking straight in his eyes. “You said your son was poisoned, but there is no evidence of any intoxication. What poisoned him ?”

James kept crying and whining, she couldn’t get a single sentence out of him. 14 years of service, but she had to remember to not slap the man who could be the reason his son died too.

“Your son needs you, Mr. Potter. I can’t treat him if I don't know what he ingested.” She said but he didn’t react. “What’s your wife’s name ? Mr. Potter, your wife’s name ?”

“Lily… it’s Lily, she’s … my flower-…” Tears and snot mixing on his face as he hugged himself.

“Lily trusts you to take care of your son, doesn’t she? So tell me what did ingest Mr. Potter ?” She wasn’t in the habit of emotionally manipulating people but in these cases, it was the best alternative.

“I don’t know… She didn’t say…But it’s only her experimental potions here, I don’t know which.” James seemed to put himself together to speak of his wife.

“Well, your son is stable, we are going to the hospital to check any curses or poisons possible. Right now, Mr. Potter.” She said urgently when he didn’t stand up, she levitated the child’s body to follow her.

“But…Lily ?” He whined pathetically, his hands clinging to her cold body. 

The mediwitch, shaking her head, put her under a stasis charm, then said, “Now we go, we don’t know the time we have. It could be an obscure poison that doesn’t appear on the general diagnostic spells.”

James followed, hunched from having part of his world snatched from him.

Hours later, mediwixen had exhausted all curses and poisons known to wixen, but to no avail. Fortunately, Harry was breathing fine but worn out and sleeping. James was on the chair by him, he had stopped crying, though there was no life in his eyes.

Not a smile had surfaced above the mountain of suffering and grief when the mediwitch had declared Harry safe.

 ****

Between the high grass, reddish magical herbs and an odd tree was a wooden door to a quirky house. The family of three had stopped in front of it. The mother, key in hand, gazed lovingly at her husband as their daughter hung on his every word. 

“- Marmites are more likely to be found in streams, the closer to a mountain the better to observe them,” explained Xenophilius, one hand mimicking the flow of a stream, the other fidgeting with an old pendant of a trait in a circle and a triangle. 

“One day, I will see one daddy.” With a frown, a rare site on her youthful face, the blond girl touched the door hesitantly. “Wrackspurts are inside of our home, why is that mommy ?” 

Pandora Lovegood had never dismissed her daughter's intuition. Her treasure was blessed by magic herself. With a swish of her wand, she casted diagnostic spells on their wards for curses, but nothing came up. If a wixen had come in, they didn’t leave any malicious magic behind. 

“My wand doesn’t sense any trace of magic, but let’s be extra careful, hum ?” She whispered as she shared a glance with her husband. He winked at her, then hunched to the same height as Luna. 

“I’ll be the scout. My moon, can you protect my back ?” Xenophophilus asked in her ear, a hand on the door and another on his daughter’s arm. 

“Yes daddy, we need to disperse the bad energy,” she said dreamily.  

Pandora pushed the door, her husband entered hunched, jokingly walking in big steps. Luna shushed him when he talked loudly. 

In their living room was a new chair, a regal one, in a rococo style. On the pearly white cushioning was seated Lucius Malefoy, a high leveled Death Eater. He was part of the inner circle, one of the youngest. It was seen as the highest achievement, these days, to be a part of the Dark Lord’s guard, but if you asked Xenophilius it was more a never-escaping punishment. Though he kept this opinion to himself. 

Pandora took a step forward, shielding her family and tensely said, “Lord Malefoy, welcome in our modest home. We apologize for its state, we didn’t expect any visitors today.” 

“Do not trouble yourself on this, a home is as proper as the family,” he answered indolently on his chair, and after a long pause to let the message sink, he levitated a newspaper in the direction of the family already on edge. “Intriguing column today, don’t you think ?” 

Raising her hand to catch the flying paper of the Quibbler, she closed her eyes, taking a breath, to open them on a section she had advised against. The title : “What hides behind the appearance of Voldemort : an overexposure of the dark arts or a failed attempt at transfiguration ?”. Her husband, for all his good qualities and he had a lot, was too much of an optimist. Everything will work out, he always says.

“It must have slipped through. We, of course, don’t condone those statements even in the name of humour. We’ll-” 

“-If Vol-”, Xenophilius was interrupted by a silencing charm from his wife before he could do any more harm. Now was not the time to feel rebellious. 

“What we want to say is that the Dark Lord shouldn’t have to bare eyes on those fabulations and we’ll work our utmost so he never has to.” Clutching her daughter’s hand while she hid behind her, Pandora bowed her head. 

“Then we will take your words for it,” said the young Lord ironically, a smirk adorning his face. 

No statement would satisfy him it seems, the thought leading the family in silence. On hand caressing his long hair, he basked in their awkward stillness. The platinum blond straight hair is the trademark of the Malefoy, but Pandora with her sharpness could be mistaken for one of them, if not for a colorful and eclectic wardrobe. 

“Mme Lovegood, you are a specialist on unorthodox magical studies. How come you never set foot in the Department of Mysteries ?”

“I-I prefer to experiment in solitude.” 

“Such a pity. A position just became available in a new project and your expert eye would undoubtedly not go amiss,” he let his words and their meaning float around as he stood up gracefully. The chair disappeared behind him.  

After exchanging a glance with her husband, Pandora nodded and replied, “I suppose I could have a look at it. The research community thrives under multiple eyes, doesn’t it ?”

"Certainly. We shall add you to the project then, and consider this entire ordeal a thing of the past. After all, there’s no reason we cannot all proceed amicably as friends." 

Not waiting for an answer, Lord Malefoy was already outside of the door, a snide on his face as he stepped on the uneven grass. 

The Lovegood family could finally breathe freely again. 

“Mommy, I think this project will give you wrackspurts.”