Chapter Three
“I’m sorry, what?” Minnie said, her voice somewhat aghast.
“I think Albus is a lying piece of shit and I’m asking you if I were to not join the Order but still fight, would you support me?” James repeated. McGonagall just stared at him. “You think I’m insane, don’t you?”
“A tad bit,” she admitted, shrugging a bit. “If you’re asking if I would fight alongside you if you chose not to join the Order I’m not sure what my answer would be. But if you’re asking me if I would fight against you if I needed to, I would respond with no, because I refuse to fight with my students. Former or not.”
“Plus,” James started. “I’m special, aren’t I?”
“You’re something, alright,” she said, smiling a bit. “But no, I won’t be fighting against you if that’s what you wanted to know.”
“Thank you, Minnie,” he said softly. She nodded and let him out of the office.
James could tell that Harry was happy to be home, because he hadn’t been home since the Christmas hols, electing to go to the Weasley’s for Easter. As soon as he had walked through the front door, he dropped his bags and ran towards their cat, Betty, and immediately grabbed her and pulled her into his lap, snuggling his face into her as she purred. James just stood there and looked at him for a moment, his heart breaking a bit at how excited his son is to be home. He shouldn’t dislike being at Hogwarts this much and it’s all Voldemort’s fault. He hated it.
“Hey Bambi?” James said, causing Harry to lift his head up to meet his eyes. “How do you feel about Sirius and Remus coming to stay with us for a bit?” The boy’s eyes lit up.
“That’s fine,” he said, trying to hide the excitement in his voice. Evidently it didn’t work because James laughed a bit at his reaction.
“Alright,” he said, still chuckling. “And how would you feel if you were to meet Mary?”
“Mary?” Harry replied, confused. “Like, the one from when you were at Hogwarts?” James nodded.
“Yeah. I haven’t spoken to her since the first war, and she needs to be updated. As far as I’m aware she doesn’t have a partner or anything so she may stay with us for a bit as well.”
“That’s fine,” he shrugged, making James smile.
“James?” The woman asked him, shock written all over her face.
“Hey Mary,” James said, albeit a bit sheepish. “Mind if I come in? I need to speak with you.” She rolled her eyes but stepped out of the way, beckoning him in. “Lovely home you’ve got here.”
“Cut the shit Potter,” she snapped. “I left the wizarding world for a reason. Why are you here?”
“He’s back,” he said, his voice soft. Mary froze. “He was resurrected a few days ago. I thought that you should be made aware of this.” The room was silent. You could hear a pin drop.
“How?” The question was quiet, but it seemed loud.
“Peter kidnapped my son,” he said, almost silent. “He kidnapped Harry, cut his arm open to take his blood, cut his hand off, and then apparently Voldemort was back. Mary, Peter has been hiding all these years, waiting for the moment to bring him back from the dead. Another war has broken out. You have the right to know what’s happening.”
“This is why I left,” she said, her voice sad. “Everything is a mess and now this happens. James, I can’t join the Order again. I can’t.”
“Mary,” he said softly, reaching out to hold her hand. “I’m not asking that of you. No way. I am asking you however, to come back to my house for a bit to talk with Remus and Sirius about this. If you want no part in it after we’ve talked then I won’t make you fight. I’ll make sure you’re safe and protected, but you won’t need to fight if you don’t wish to.”
“James–”
“Harry also may want to meet you,” he said, smiling a bit. That got Mary to crack a smile.
“Alright. I suppose just talking to you guys won’t hurt,” she said, smirking. “I guess I’ve missed you guys a bit.” James grinned.
“Mary?” Remus asked, looking back and forth between James and her as soon as he walked into James’ house.
“Hey Remus,” she said, smiling cautiously.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” He asked, finally shaking himself out of his little daze, and moving quickly to pull her into a fierce hug.
“Apparently I’m gone, and you guys find yourself in another war,” she said, a strained smile plastered onto her face. “So, James here convinced me to come and talk to you guys about it before deciding not to fight.”
“I bribed her by saying that Harry would probably like to meet her,” he said, smirking.
“He’s not wrong,” Remus shrugged. “Have you been keeping up with the news at all?” Mary shook her head.
“Clean break,” she murmured. “Now, when am I going to meet Harry? Oh, and where’s your other half?”
“Harry’s over at the Weasley’s right now but he should be back soon. As for Sirius,” James said, looking over at Remus to finish the sentence about his husband’s whereabouts.
“He should be here in like two minutes,” he said. “He was finishing up a chapter in Pride and Prejudice and said, and I quote, ‘James can wait, I need to know what happens.’”
“I’ve missed a lot, haven’t I?” Mary asked, in a mock solemn voice. James snorted.
“Yeah, let’s start catching you up, shall we?”
“Alright,” Sirius’ voice drawled from presumably the entryway. “I’ve arrived! What was so important any– MacDonald?” His voice died off into confusion. “What the fuck is going on right now?”
“Hey Black,” she replied, somewhat nervous.
“It’s actually Lupin now,” Remus said, grinning. Mary’s jaw slackened.
“Since when?” She demanded.
“April 14, 1983,” Sirius said, his voice unexpectedly cold. “Which you would know if you cared enough about us to stay.”
“Sirius,” James warned, his voice low.
“No,” Mary said, waving James off. “Let him get mad at me. Merlin knows I deserve it.”
“Your best friends die, you’re mourning, I get it. But that doesn’t mean you get to just disappear. We were mourning too. For fuck’s sake James lost his wife! But he didn’t disappear. Because he knew that there were more people than just himself. You leaving us after we had just been done fighting a war was selfish, Mary. It was fucking selfish.” Silence.
“Alright,” Remus said, standing abruptly. “We’ll be going now. Mary, would you like to go out for lunch soon to catch up?”
“Sure,” Mary said, smiling at him kindly before aiming a glare at Sirius. Remus sent her a tense smile and then disapparated. “Well, that went well, didn’t it?”
“Yeah… brilliant.” Just then the floo lit up and out stepped Harry, looking a bit disheveled, followed by Hermione, Ron, and Ginny.
“Aabe! Is it alright if–” his words died in his throat as he saw the woman sitting next to his father. “Who are you?” He asked, quite bluntly making her laugh.
“Just like Lils, is he?”
“You’re Mary,” he said, recognition flickering on his face.
“And you’re Harry I presume?” She asked, a small smile on her face when he nodded. “I apologize but I’m not quite sure who the others are.”
“I’m Hermione, and they’re Ron and Ginny. Nice to meet you,” Hermione said.
“Nice to meet you as well.”
“I thought Pads, and Moony were supposed to be here?” Harry asked, confused. James and Mary shared a look.
“Sirius was a bit rude to Mary when he came here so he and Remus left,” James said, carefully.
“Why?”
“He was upset that I left the wizarding world because I was mourning your mother and our friends,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes.
“Is he at home?” Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yes… why?” James replied, suspicious.
“I’ll be back,” he said and then walked straight into the floo. Mary raised her eyebrows and looked at James.
“That’s all Lily,” Mary said, smiling a bit.
“Oh yeah,” he nodded, smiling softly.
“Mary?” Hermione asked quietly.
“Hermione was it?” she asked, her eyes softening when she nodded. “Are your parents muggles or just wizards who enjoy Shakespeare?”
“I’m muggleborn,” she said, a proud look on her face. “Did you actually leave the wizarding world? Like, completely leave it?”
“Yes,” Mary said, her voice a bit sad.
“I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Technically you can’t but Ollivander loved me, so I gave him my wand to hold on to in case I ever decided to return. I expect that I’m going to be getting it back soon,” she said, looking at James sideways.
“Hey, I never said that you should come back,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “I merely suggested that you come here, and we talk to you about recent developments in this world.”
Based on the glances and looks on the children’s faces told James all he needed to know. Harry should not be around when they talk about this. James had already thought this but having his friends agree just confirms it.
“I also wanted Harry to meet you,” James admitted, laughing when Mary rolled her eyes. “What? He doesn’t really have anyone other than me and Sirius and Remus to talk to so maybe having a woman in his life would be helpful?” There was a hopeful tone evident in his voice.
“If he would like me to be in his life I won’t tell him no,” Mary said, softly. “I loved his mother, and he deserves to hear stuff about her from people other than you two shits.”
“Hey,” James weakly protested. “Remus tells him stuff about her from a friend’s perspective.”
“We both know my perspective is a bit different than his,” she responded, raising an eyebrow as if daring him to disagree.
“You make a good point,” he said slowly, as if he hadn’t thought about it like that. “But you were her friend before that.” Mary nodded her head to say, ‘you’re right.’ Just then the floo roared to life and a satisfied looking Harry walked out, followed by an amused Remus, and Sirius, who looked thoroughly scolded.
“Mary, I’m sorry I said that you were selfish for doing what was best for you,” Sirius said, as if it pained him to say it. Mary looked impressed and gave Harry an appraising look.
“That,” she began. “Is an impressive feat.” Harry smiled.
“I threatened him,” he said, sounding innocent but there was a glimmer in his eye that told Mary and James that he wasn’t kidding.
“You’ve taught him well I see,” she said, smirking at James.
“As best as I could’ve,” he said softly. “Harry, waxaan u baahanahay inaan kaligeed la hadlo hadda. Ka warran nimanyahow u kaca qolkaaga?”
“Ganaax,” Harry grumbled. “Let’s go.” He took Ron and Hermione by the hand and started dragging them along, Ginny following, laughing.
“Does he know Welsh as well?” Mary asked, smiling softly.
“Not as much as I would like,” James grimaced. “He and Remus talk in it a bit.”
“He’s decent at it,” Remus said, a proud glint in his eye. “I’m working on it with him. He can understand it better than speak it but that’s to be expected.”
“I’m glad,” she said quietly.
Mary and Lily had had a unique relationship before everything had happened. They became best friends the moment they met, and they stayed friends until Lily had been killed. For about a year and a half they were more than friends though. Lily and Mary had been together for a while before they had decided to just be friends again. Now, not many people knew this, but Mary had been full on in love with Lily, and according to Remus, Lily had been close to it with Mary, the two just never spoke about it because they thought it best to be friends because of the war. It’s haunted Mary since then that Lily died, never knowing that Mary had been in love with her.
“Now,” James said, trying to sound as serious as he could. “Sirius, you’re going to be nice and civil, otherwise what we talked about won’t happen.” Sirius’ face darkened but he nodded, nevertheless.
“So,” Mary started, sounding a bit hesitant. “Why am I here? I know that there’s another war and I know that James here wanted me to meet Harry, but other than that I don’t see why I need to be here.”
“Maybe because we haven’t seen you in over a decade and we have no idea what’s going on in each other’s lives?” Remus said, a hopeful tone evident in his voice. Mary just gave him a look.
“I’m not fighting with the Order this time around,” James announced, making Sirius inhale sharply, Remus looked at him with almost a knowing look, and Mary just looked confused.
“What do you plan to do?” Mary asked, mostly curious.
“I can make my own little side to the war,” James shrugged. “I don’t agree with the ways of the Order, and I obviously don’t agree with the Death Eaters. Why should I join either side if I don’t like either?”
“And what will you tell Dumbledore?” Sirius asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
“I essentially told him to fuck off and that he was delusional if he thought that offering me immunity but not Harry or you guys it would make me want to join the Order again.”
“Fucking hell James,” Mary said, a bit in awe and a bit in fear. “You’ve changed quite a bit, haven’t you?”
“We’ve all had to,” Sirius snapped, giving her a look that to any other person would be just a glare, but to Mary it was an insult. She knew what he meant. She knew that he was referring to them having to learn how to deal with the changes after the first war.
“If you guys join the Order, I will not fight against you, but I won’t help you either,” James said, looking at Remus and Sirius but mostly at Sirius. “I don’t care that we’re brothers. Harry comes first always, and if you get in the way of that, I can’t be blamed for what I do. So, what are you guys going to do?”
“Well,” Mary broke the silence after a few moments. “I’m sure as hell not going to be fighting alongside that old buffoon again, so I’m in.” James looked rightfully shocked.
When he had invited her to his house, he genuinely just wanted to catch her up on everything that was happening and everything that was going to happen in the future. He didn’t believe for a second that she would actually agree to fight in the war, let alone not with the Order.
“You don’t have to Mary,” James started, but was promptly cut off by the woman.
“You’re correct, I don’t have to. But if you think that I’m going to let you guys go into a war on your own you are stupider than I remember.”
“She makes a fair point,” Remus said, shrugging. "I’m not going to be going against you Prongs, that would quite frankly be a death wish. Especially considering who you’re doing it for.”
“I go where you go,” Sirius said, smiling a bit.
“If we’re all going to be working together then Sirius, you need to work out whatever you have against Mary, otherwise we won’t be successful. We have to trust each other,” James said sternly. “You can work it out right now or I can tell Harry he can come back down here, and he can get to know Mary, given that’s the whole way I convinced her to even come here.”
“I’m not working it out with him right now,” Mary stated, making her stand obvious. “I will later, but I want to properly meet Harry.”
“Can I come down now?” Harry called from the top of the stairs. “I’m hungry.”
“Convenient timing,” James muttered, rolling his eyes. His son had almost certainly been eavesdropping on their conversation. “Yes, you can come down.” And suddenly there were four pairs of feet coming down the stairs at record speed. Harry immediately went into the kitchen to grab food.
“Bariis iskukaris baad samaysay oo midna ima soo dirin?” Harry yelled from the kitchen, making James laugh.
“Waqti uma helin!” He shouted back. The group of people in the sitting room could hear Harry grumbling but they just kept laughing. They stopped laughing just in time for Harry to walk into the room, happily eating his bariis iskukaris.
“Remus, a allwch chi gredu na anfonodd e rywfaint o hwn yn yr ysgol? Achos fedra i ddim,” Harry said to Remus as he sat down on the floor in front of where James was sitting. Mary scoffed at Remus.
“You said he was decent! That’s more than decent in Welsh you celwyddog budron!”
“Well, that’s not a very nice thing to call someone, now, is it?” Harry mumbled as he continued eating his food in content, making James chuckle and ruffle his son’s hair.
“Well, he could use some more work on the pronunciation,” Remus pointed out, making Harry glare at him.
“Remus, everyone who isn’t a native speaker could work on pronunciation,” Mary pointed out, rolling her eyes. “Harry, how long have you been learning Welsh?”
“Well, Moony started teaching it to me when I was six, but I already knew little words like cariad and carw bach and I’m assuming it’s because mum spoke to me when I was younger in welsh. I also remembered Dwi'n dy garu di gymaint because of Halloween, so I’ve been actively speaking it for like, eight years? If I did that maths right. But of course, I’ve been hearing since I was born. Well, I assume so at least.” The room was silent. Harry probably didn’t even realize what he had just revealed to all of the adults in the room, no doubt that his friends already knew this little bit of information.
“Harry,” James started, his voice soft as he quickly glanced at the others in the room with a concerned look on his face. His son looked up from where he was looking in his bowl, probably for more lamb. “You remember Halloween?” Harry suddenly froze, as if realizing what exactly he had said.
“Only a bit of it,” he mumbled, clearly uncomfortable.
“How?” Sirius asked, panic rising in his voice. “You were only three. People usually don’t start forming memories until they’re four. Yes, wizards can earlier, but not by much. You had recently turned three, that should be impossible.”
“Not so much when a dementor is trying to suck your soul out of your body when you’re thirteen, Sirius,” Harry snapped at him.
“When was a dementor close enough to you to bring up your worst memories?” Mary asked, confused about the events of everything.
“Peter Pettigrew escaped Azkaban last year,” Hermione explained. “So, they set up dementors on school grounds to make sure he didn’t get in and hurt Harry or Remus.”
“Wax badan oo buuran oo wanaagsan oo sameeyay,” Harry grumbled.
“And when one got close to you, that’s what you experienced? Over and over again?” Remus asked, his face soft, and sympathetic.
“I would hear mum say Dwi'n dy garu di gymaint, scream, and then I would see a flash of bright green light. Which I’m assuming was the Avada,” Harry explained.
“You left a part out, mate,” Ron said, making Harry, Hermione, and Ginny glare at him like he was stupid.
“What else did you hear?” Mary asked, immensely worried for this poor boy.
Harry glanced at James uncomfortably before saying, “I don’t want to say, I don’t want to upset anyone.”
“Harry, whatever you’re going to say, you don’t have to leave out for my sake,” James said earnestly. What could he have possibly heard that made him not want to say it in front of him?
“Fine,” Harry said. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. I could hear his laugh and mum’s body when it fell to the floor. Are you happy?” The room was dead silent. It seemed like no one even dared to breathe as they all processed what he said.
“Okay,” James said, calmly. A bit too calmly for the situation. “Thank you for telling us. I have something to take care of in the forest, but I’ll be back in a few minutes.” And with that, James walked out.