Harmony Not Understood

Lyca slept for nearly two days, Remus and Harry never leaving their vigil by her bedside. Lupin had told the others the reason for his urgency to talk to her, and Harry’s need didn’t have to be put into words.

A lot happened in that time. Orenda’s trial; a quick formality, as she refused to plead at all; lots of paperwork, overseen by Hermione and Ron who were dab hands with the office work attached to solving crime; Gabrielle’s return home, the reward money and of course, the removal of the Malfoys from the cellar. Draco, true to form, had been very difficult. After inspecting Malfoy Mansion, he had declared it unfit for his family to live in at its current state, and has ordered it to be given the most thorough clean of its whole existence. Saskia, from the goodness of her heart, had managed to pull yet another guestroom out of nowhere for them. Each day, the breakfast table sat seven, with Lyca and baby Calum discounted. It was late morning on the second day that Lyca woke. Harry was out of the room for the first time in hours, going about a high-speed version of a morning routine. Slowly, the strawberry blonde head stirred, squinted up, blinked, and sat up. She looked at Remus. "I just had the strangest of dreams. I dreamt that Orenda was the murderer and that you-"

"Appeared out of thin air in my attempt to play hero?"

"Well...yes. But how-"

"That was no dream my dear. Your aching bones will tell you that soon enough. The Cruciatus curse does nothing for the joints."

Lyca sat up, and winced at the pain in her creaking muscles. "So how did it end? I can’t remember after you appeared."

"You lost consciousness, that’s why. You didn’t miss much. But you’ve been asleep for nearly two days."

She gaped in horror. "That can’t be healthy!"

Remus smiled, "Oh, its perfectly normal with what you went through."

"Harry never mentioned-"

"Why should he? Being Harry Potter, he has a different response than us normal folk. And werewolves like us dont take too kindly to pain curses."

Lyca’s face fell. "Does everyone know about that now?"

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, Lyca, there is something I need to tell you. I-"

She butted in. "Are you my father?" she asked casually

Now it was Lupin’s turn to gape. "How did you-"

"I guessed after Mum told me about you two. It all added up. I didn’t tell her though, in case I was wrong. I guessed you didn’t know though."

He shook his head. "Just like your mother. Calm, collected, and always able to catch me off my guard."

Lyca grinned. "We’ve got a lot of father-daughter bonding session to catch up on me thinks."

He grinned back. "We sure have."

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Harry was in the kitchen with Ron, sorting out breakfast. The tall red head was making Hermione breakfast in bed, as she was feeling a little under the weather.

"Want anything from the fridge whilst I’m here," asked Harry, "Butter? Jam?"

"Err.......could you get a banana, milk and the tin of chopped beetroot for me please?" asked Ron thoughtfully, as if it were an everyday request.

Harry spluttered. "For breakfast! Are you sure Hermione will really appreciate banana and beetroot of all things?"

Ron gave Harry a knowing smile. "Just bring them over."

Whilst Harry cleared up his own breakfast mess, his watched as his friend carefully mashed the banana with the milk to make a milkshake, before putting the tinned beetroot on two slices of toast. Ron put the glass and plate onto a metal tray and was about to take it upstairs when Harry put his hands on the sides, gripping them firmly.

"I’ll take it Ron."

"But-"

"Go...talk to Blaise and Draco; they’ll be glad of the company." Harry tugged on the tray suddenly, taking Ron unawares. As he climbed the stairs, he smiled at the sound of his friend’s grumbling.

* * * * *

"Come in." Called Hermione sleepily from the bedroom she shared with Ron.

Harry pushed the door open with his foot and brought the tray in. As she sat up with a smile, he came and placed it on her duvet-covered lap. "Well, here’s breakfast a la Ron, but I think he’s finally cracked."

Hermione looked up blankly. "Sorry?"

"Beetroot toast and banana milkshake. It’s-"

"Gorgeous, I know."

Harry choked. "That wasn’t the first word that sprang to mind," he shook his head, when something clicked in his brain, "Strange eating habits, morning sickness...Hermione, you aren’t..."

Hermione blushed the same colour as her toast topping.

Harry nearly fainted.

Hermione looked up uncertainly. "What do you think? A little Weasley to join the ranks?"

Harry laughed suddenly and hugged her. "I’m over the moon for the two of you. Poor kid, half a million uncles to dote upon it!"

She giggled. "Not to mention Ginny."

He gave her a look of mock stern. "May heaven help that child. Never mind the uncles, it’ll never have chance to sleep with a loving aunt like her!"

* * * * *

Two days later, all of them were seated round the dinner table. Saskia, Remus, Lyca, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Blaise, little Calum in his highchair and Sirius as a guest. Harry and Lyca were telling Sirius the story, with the sometimes unwelcome aid of others.

"Well it all really started the day before the wedding-" began Lyca

"Dont tell me, my hair changing colour was the turning point." Muttered Draco sarcastically.

"Shut up Malfoy." Said Harry firmly.

"Anyway," continued Lyca, "That was when I came across the idea of anagrams. I had a few goes, but nothing came of it. Then as these two took their vows at the wedding-"

"Which I wasn’t invited to-" started Draco.

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Lyca all turned on him. "Shut up Malfoy!" they all chorused

"Right, as I was saying, as they took their vows, I finally worked it out. It all pointed at Orenda. So I left telling no one where I was going. I stopped briefly at the office to give Malfoy here the not, before heading off to Cape Wrath. She found me rather than the other way round. She tortured me quite a bit before you arrived, though she only used the Cruciatus that one time. That was the only time I screamed."

Sirius nodded approvingly at her. "Still once more than you’d want to face that curse in a lifetime. You did very well. More experienced witches and wizards have crumpled under that curse before. So, what happened then?"

Harry took over from Lyca, describing their meeting with Draco, the phone conversation with the ministry witch, which led to their journey to the Cape. He came to their bursting onto the cliff, and went on to Orenda performing the Cruciatus curse on him. Before he could go on any further, Sirius spoke up again.

"I dont understand why she didn’t kill Lyca whilst you were down Harry."

Harry suddenly remembered something. "Ron, did you do something? Only I heard you come forward as I went down."

Ron nodded. Swallowing his mouthful he spoke. "I remembered a little counter dark arts charm my dad taught me a long time ago. It’s called the Iterum Impedio charm."

Lupin looked up. "The charm that prevents the subject from performing more than one dark arts spell at a time."

Ron nodded

Sirius whistled. "A stroke of genius Ron. Anyway, carry on Harry."

So Harry continued. He told how Remus had arrived in the nick of time, how he’d made Orenda drop her wand and put her in the body bind. He finished by telling the events of the last two days.

Sirius raised his glass. "And to that, I propose a toast to the members of Weasley and Weasley. To a mission completed and more in the future."

Everyone present, bar Calum, followed suit. "To a mission completed and to more in the future."

"And may I have no further part in them." Muttered Draco.

Harry groaned. "Dont worry Malfoy, I can’t see it happening anytime soon."

* * * * *

Lyca and Harry walked together in the light of the waning moon. They were headed for the lake, which could be seen as a pale mirror in the distance. Nothing stirred as they walked in silence. Unlike the night on Cape Wrath, the dark sky was clear with stars shining brightly above them. Lyca pointed to one of the constellations. "Orion’s bright tonight."

Harry looked at her moonlit face, "Now dont go all centaur like on me."

"Well, werewolves have a little saying about this. We have our own omens you know."

"Enlighten me then."

Lyca took a deep breath. "When the hunters belt bright lamps do make

Then you can be sure you have but scorched the snake."

Harry frowned. "Scorched the snake...that’s Shakespeare isn’t it? Macbeth to Lady Macbeth?"

Lyca shrugged. "I only know that it means we’ve only had a taster. Whether it means from Orenda or the Dark Side in general, I dont know. As for Shakespeare, we’ve been around longer. Maybe he knew one of us, you never know."

Harry looked up at the stars himself. "I’m not one for omens. But, well, I’ll be surprised if we’re out of the woods yet. Dangers come and go, we always have to be ready for them. But lets not brood on it, life’s too short for worrying about the stars. That’s for centaurs, not us."

Lyca took his hand. "Then lead on Macduff."

Harry gave her a look. "You know too much for your own good."

"So I like to believe."

Laughing, the two of them continued down the long path.