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Rescue	By : sarcastrow Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 2630 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I do not make any money from these writings

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
Rescue

Chapter 7

Mothers

“Mr. Finnigan?” Madam Pomfrey's voice drew him from his slumber.

He opened his eyes and tried to move. “Argh,” he said, pain coursing though his sore muscles. “Crap, shouldn’t sleep in a chair.” He looked up at the old woman. “Or better yet, you should get some comfy ones.”

Madam Pomfrey laughed. “If we had more comfortable chairs the visitors would never leave, and then how would we get our work done?” She sat on a stool she conjured. “And if I recall I did offer you a bed.”

He looked down to where he still held Lavender’s hand. “Wouldn’t have worked”

Madam Pomfrey smiled. “No, I suppose not.” She looked to the slumbering woman on the bed. Lavender had reverted to human during the night. She looked back to Seamus, and her expression grew stern. “Mr. Finnigan, I have to ask you a few sensitive questions. It’s important, but I can’t tell you why until I talk to Lavender.”

“Alright,” he said cautiously. He rose from the chair and stretched. Several loud pops sounded from his shoulders, and he bent and rubbed his legs. ‘Ow, blimey, can’t run with her in my arms like I could when I was eighteen, either.”

“I’ll make a pain draught for you.” Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat. “When was the last time you made love to your wife?”

Seamus choked. “Wh-what?” he said, and sat back down.

“It’s important, Mr. Finnigan.”

Seamus blushed. “Um, well, we a …”

“Oh, please Mr. Finnigan!” Madam Pomfrey said in an amused and slightly exasperated voice. “I’ve spent fifty years treating adolescents. Do you think I’ve never had to deal with this kind of thing? When was the last time you and Lavender had sex?”

“Um, well just before we left the hotel room yesterday.” He blushed harder. “It’s kind of a good luck thing. You see…”

“Yes, yes,” Madam Pomfrey said, “and she spent a good deal of time in her wolf form yesterday?”

“Aye.”

Madam Pomfrey nodded.

Seamus looked to her. “What’s wrong?”

She smirked. “Probably nothing, but I do need to talk to Lavender.”

“What, does it affect the magic you did or something?” Seamus asked, looking worried.

“Hardly, Mr. Finnigan. No, I need to talk to Lavender about a few things, woman things, that’s all.” She nodded to herself, stood, and walked back to her office.

***

Lavender woke. It was late afternoon, and red-gold light was spilling through the hospital windows. Seamus stirred at her side.

“Afternoon, love. Feeling better?” he asked.

“Yes. Stiff though,” she said as she stretched and yawned. “Thirsty.”

“I’ll get you a glass of water,” Seamus said and strode down the aisle toward the office. A few moments later he reappeared with Madam Pomfrey in tow.

“How are you feeling, Lavender?” she asked.

“Like I told Shay, stiff,” she said as she took the glass from Seamus.

“Mr. Finnigan, I need to examine your wife, and I’d prefer to do it in private if you don’t mind. Why don’t you go drop in on Professor Longbottom’s greenhouses? I’m sure his students wouldn’t mind another hero visiting him.”

“I’m being got rid of,” Seamus said with a smile.

“Yes, you are,” Madam Pomfrey said, “so get gone.”

Seamus kissed Lavender and headed for the door. “I’ll get dinner for you then?” he said over his shoulder.

“That’d be great, Shay,” Lavender called to him as he left the infirmary. She set the glass on the bedside table, and turned to Madam Pomfrey. “So, why did you get rid of him?”

Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat. “We had to do a good deal of very intense healing magic yesterday, Lavender, and after we healed the damage we had to clear your system of all the toxins and waste from the healing.”

“I understand.”

Madam Pomfrey smiled and cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t think you understand the full ramifications. We cleared your system of everything, including any potions.”

“Okay,” Lavender said. “The only potions I had taken were the sobriety potion and my birth con…trol. Oh, no,” Lavender said, shaking her head, “No, no, no.”

Madam Pomfrey nodded. She took Lavender’s wand from the bedside table and handed it to her. “An anticlockwise swish above your womb; the charm is ‘Conceptus Revelo’. Go on.”

Her wand trembled in her hand as Lavender moved it above her abdomen. “Conceptus Revelo,” she whispered. Pink sparks flew from the end of her wand.

“A girl,” Madam Pomfrey said. Lavender’s wand clattered to the floor, and she dissolved into tears.

“I can’t be pregnant,” Lavender said through the sobs. “Seamus and I … we knew we couldn’t. The child would … will be a werewolf. We promised ourselves we wouldn’t do that to an innocent child.” She cried harder.

Madam Pomfrey picked up Lavender’s wand, set it on the bedside table, and enveloped her in a hug. Lavender Brown was as close as Poppy Pomfrey was ever going to come to having a daughter of her own, and she was going to make sure Lavender knew she would help any way she was asked. “It’s not your fault, Lavender. You remember what I told you about how a female wolf can store the male’s seed for a long time and then impregnate herself when the time is right?”

Lavender nodded against her chest.

“Well, I believe that’s what’s happened. You and Mr. Finnigan made love yesterday afternoon and you spent a lot of time in wolf yesterday. When we scrubbed you of toxins the birth control potion was washed from your system as well. The rest is nature and fate.”

“Fate!” Lavender spat. “They said they loved me. They said …” and she saw the memory on her mind. We have decided to reward you in this life … For you … “But I can’t have a child. What were you thinking?” she shouted at the ceiling.

Madam Pomfrey was puzzled. “What, Lavender? Who are you talking to?”

“No one, just the fates.” Lavender’s shoulders shook from the sobs.

Madam Pomfrey shrugged and returned to the topic at hand. “You can do this, Lavender; you can, if you want. We can stop it, but I think you may want to consult your husband, family, and friends before you make that decision.” Madam Pomfrey looked sternly at her. “We will do nothing about this for the next week. You rest and recover. Talk with your husband, consult with your friends, and then we’ll proceed with prenatal treatment … or something else.” She looked at Lavender and let the love she felt for her show through for a moment. “You are amazing, Lavender. You have done amazing things and saved so many children.” She placed her hand atop Lavender’s on her belly. “Save this one.”

*

Lavender was alone with her thoughts. Madam Pomfrey had hugged her while she cried and then retired to her office so that Lavender could have some time to think, and think she had. She had vowed she would never have a child after she had been bitten. The pain of the transformation was enough, but the stigma was worse. When she had been out in the world, playing Selene, she had seen just how people in their unguarded moments thought about her condition. They hated, feared and looked down on werewolves. They were viewed as less than human, diseased, pariahs. They loved her, but that was just because of her exploits and Hermione’s book. If it hadn’t been for that she’d have been an outcast like the rest. She would have called Madam Pomfrey back and ended it right then if it hadn’t been for the Fates.

They had chosen her, they had given her a child, and she was by turns grateful and furious with them. We have decided to reward you in this life … For you … It wouldn’t stop playing in her mind. Reward? Yes it was, dramatic and stunning, but could she do it? Could Shay do it? What would her family say? What would they do? She was fairly sure how Seamus’s family would react. They had accepted her without a second thought; her being a werewolf was just a quaint curiosity, but what about her mother? And her sisters, Jasmine and Artemisia? Like the rest they loved her but what of her child?

Her child, she was somewhat surprised at the grin that formed every time she thought those words. My baby, she thought and her cheeks hurt from the smile. Tears coursed down her cheeks again. Bitches, She thought at the Fates, you are complete bitches to put me in this position! I was happy. Shay and I had come to terms with not having a child, and now … Now what the fuck are we supposed to do?

*

An hour later Lavender was lying in her bed staring at the ceiling. Her emotions were still in turmoil. A child, she thought, and the cheek breaking grin formed again. Lavender had wanted a child of her own since she was twelve, and she had thought for so long that that couldn’t happen. Now — now it was different, now she carried the spark of a little girl within her. She was finding it increasingly hard to even consider not having her, holding her, loving her, and as she thought about that, she realized that she already loved her child.

Seamus appeared at the door to the infirmary. He looked around the room and strode to Lavender’s side.

“Brought a little something from the kitchen for you,” he said, and pulled a small package from his robes. “’Twas roast beef for dinner tonight, and I had the elves make up a little snack for you.” He looked to her and noticed her red rimmed eyes. Seamus was not used to tears from his wife; Lavender hardly ever cried. “What’s wrong, love?”

She took a deep breath. “I …” she fidgeted with the blanket. “Shay, we…”

Seamus became very concerned and took her hand. “Lav, whatever’s wrong we can see it through. I love you. Come on, love, it can’t be that bad.”

She looked up at him smiling broadly, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I’m pregnant, Shay. We’re going to have a little girl.”

Seamus looked like he’d been hit with a brick. “Pregnant? Uh … Um … I, uh.”

Lavender couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s okay, Shay. I’ve had an hour or so to get used to the idea, you’ll get there.”

“But I thought that you couldn’t. I mean you take the potion without fail, and … that was why Poppy was asking me those questions.”

Lavender raised an eyebrow. “What questions?”

Seamus blushed a bit. “She was asking me when the last time we … um.”

“Did the nasty?” Lavender said with a laugh.

“Yeah,” he said chuckling. “Mam’s gonna go spare, and your mam, what’s she gonna do?”

“Have a furry little granddaughter and be happy about it, that’s what she’s going to do.” Lavender said firmly. “Speaking of them, could you bring our mums here, Shay. I’d like to talk to both of them. Poppy gave me the choice of having the baby or not, and I’ve decided I want to, but it’s not just my choice. You, especially, have to be for it or it’ll never work out. You haven’t said yet.” She looked to him with a frightened expression he had only seen a few times. “Do you want to do this?”

Seamus smiled, and a few tears ran down his face. “Lavender, me love, I had given up on the idea of us having a little one, and I was fine with that. Our taking care of the Potter and Weasley kids was as good a substitute as you could find for having our own, but I was always sad that you didn’t get to have one of your own, of our own. Now we do, eh?”

Lavender nodded.

“Well furry or not I’ll love her with all I have,” he said, and then a knowing grin spread on his face. “Always had a feeling this would happen, I did; you’re just too good at being a mam. Look how long it took Lilywhite to stop calling you Mam and start calling you Aunt Lavender.” He laughed. “Don’t know if you knew how much that hacked Ginny off, not at you,” he said at her startled look. “She was just mad about the situation.” He seemed to focus on a spot far in the distance. “Aye, a little Finnigan girl, your beauty, Mam’s hair …

“Your courage,” Lavender said.

“And yours,” he said, and he kissed her hand. “Aye, me love, let’s have this baby.”

Lavender was still stiff and sore but she didn’t care. She threw herself from the bed into Seamus’s arms. Great sobs of joy wracked her body, and she and Seamus wept for the sheer happiness of it.

*

Margaret Finnigan met her son and his mother-in-law on the front steps of Hogwarts. She wouldn’t have picked Sylvia Brown for a friend, but as the mother of her daughter-in-law she was fine.

“Morning Seamus, Sylvia,” she said as she approached.

“Good morning, Margaret,” Mrs. Brown said, as Seamus hugged his mother.

“Well, Son,” Mrs. Finnigan said as she released him, “what’s brought your mothers here on such a fine Saturday morning?”

“Let’s just go see Lavender and then we’ll talk,” he said.

“You’ve been very mysterious since you Flooed last night.” She turned to Sylvia. “Wouldn’t tell me what was so bloody important, you?”

Mrs. Brown shrugged as she fell in behind Seamus and next to his mother. “Not a clue. They never tell me anything though; too afraid I’ll be worried about what they get up to. Lavender takes too many risks! I was hoping Seamus would make her give up some of these dangerous things she tends to do.”

You really don’t know your daughter, do you, Sylvia, Margaret thought, and turned to smile at Seamus who, she could tell, was thinking the exact same thing. “Really not much chance of that happening, is there, Son?”

Seamus silently chuckled. “No, Mam, I’d say not.”

“Well I’m so glad she found you, Seamus. I don’t know what she’d be up to if you didn’t keep an eye on her. Probably wind up in the hospital all the time.”

Seamus choked. “Um, well, ah, Sylvia we’re kind o’ heading to the hospital wing now.”

Margaret was smiling broadly behind Sylvia. She knew that if Lavender was truly hurt he wouldn’t be making small talk with them, and Sylvia’s reaction was hilarious.

“What? Hospital! Is she alright? What happened?” She launched into a barrage of questions that Seamus couldn’t answer because she didn’t pause for breath to let him.

“Ever since her sixth year she’s been doing all these dangerous things, and I just can’t understand it. She was hurt bad enough in the battle. Why, Seamus? Why does she do it?”

“Well Syl –”

“It’s not as if she hasn’t proved her character. You two are just as deserving of that hero label as Potter is. After all they gave you both the Order of Merlin too, didn’t they?”

“Yes, Syl –”

“And after all of that she still has to go off on these crusades of hers. Why can’t she just be happy with the lives she’s already saved?”

“She just wan –”

“I mean how many trips to the ward is this now? Three, four?”

“Actually it’s sev –”

“Getting bitten was ba –”

“SYLVIA!!!” roared Mrs. Finnigan. Her voice echoed in the corridor they had turned down. “She’s fine, calm down, and here, have a nip.” She handed a small flask to Mrs. Brown that she had pulled from her robes.

Sylvia took a long draw and handed the flask back to Mrs. Finnigan. “Thank you, Margaret. Sorry Seamus, I just get a little tense where Lavender is concerned.”

Seamus took his mother-in-law’s hand. “It’s okay, Sylvia, you’re going to be happy, I guarantee it, so come on.” He led them on toward the hospital wing.

“Son, why are we here and not in London?” Mrs. Finnigan asked.

“As it happens, Mam, Lavender and I were on a mission.” At Sylvia’s look and intake of breath he hastily added, “A very successful mission, and, um, she got hurt. She’s okay now, but I’ll be honest, Sylvia, it was close. The Sisters had to break out the draíocht ar mhórchóir. They are so strong …” He trailed off looking awed.

Mrs. Finnigan nodded. She had a very good idea of how powerful her daughter-in-law and her friends were. Seamus seamed lost in thought and she pulled him back. “Earth to Seamus, you with us, son?” she said.

“Sorry, Mam, it was amazing,” – Seamus shook his head – “amazing.” He smiled in wonder. “What they did … just amazing.” Seamus turned to the women. “Lav’s told you about how they saved her, yeah?

The two women nodded.

“Aye, well they did something very like that again night before last. I’ve never seen anything like it, never.”

“How bad was it, Seamus?” Mrs. Finnigan asked, knowing that was exactly what Mrs. Brown wanted to know but was afraid to ask.

Seamus swallowed hard past the lump of fear in his throat. Lavender had worried him severely, and he was still getting over it. “We went to France to free some children from a slavery ring.” He smirked at his mother’s growl. “That’s just how Lavender reacted.”

Margaret chuckled. “I can well imagine.”

“I assume they’re safe. If there’s one thing I know about my daughter, it’s that she will not tolerate abuse of children,” Sylvia said proudly. “How many were there?”

“Twenty six, and the six older ones, so thirty two in all I’d say,” Seamus said flatly. “Most of them are at St. Mungo’s, but one was a magical child and her parents are on their way from Sweden. They should be here in a few hours, and they want to thank Lavender personally.” He smiled with pride. “Had to arrange getting them up here from London this morning.”

Sylvia smiled at Margaret. “I would think they’ll want to thank you too, Seamus,” she said.

“Oh, it’s fine. Most of the time I have to relay the thanks to Lav. Got to protect the cover you know,” he said.

“Why are they coming here to meet her then? Isn’t that a breach of security?” Sylvia asked.

Not any more, Sylvia, he thought. “There’s a lot to talk about,” Seamus said, overwhelmed, “and we’ve got to a point where Lavender needs to be in on it. Luckily, here we are.” They had arrived at the ward entrance. Seamus opened the door for the two women and followed them in.

Hermione, Ginny and Luna were standing next to Lavender’s bed when Seamus and his mothers walked up. “Good morning, Mrs. Finnigan, Mrs. Brown,” Luna said brightly. “We were just saying goodbye.” Take good care of yourself and the cub, she sent to Lavender.

I will, and thanks. Lavender reached out and took Luna’s hand “Thank you.”

“See you at the circle,” Ginny said as she turned to go.

“Yes, no slacking off just because you landed in the hospital again,” Hermione told her.

“Yes, Madam Minister,” Lavender said with a cheeky grin.

“Assistant to the Minister!” Hermione said in a huff. “You know that Alan has wanted this for a while now, and he simply took the opportunity to do it yesterday. So it’s just Assistant to the Minister, alright?”

“For now,” Lavender said laughing.

“Phtt,” Hermione said. She bent and kissed Lavender’s forehead. “Be good,” she whispered.

“Rurf,” Lavender barked in reply.

The three women left the ward laughing.

Mrs. Finnigan slapped her son’s arm. “So, what’s so important that we had to come all the way up here to Scotland, boy?”

Seamus turned to his wife. “I’ve told them what we were up to, but not how you got hurt, or what happened after.”

Lavender looked at the two women. “You’ll be wanting a chair.”

For the next twenty minutes Lavender told them of the infiltration of the compound, of the saving of the kids, and of the fights with the vampire and the old wizard. She held back telling them of her meeting with Thanata, and her sojourn into the realm of the Fates. Lavender had decided that that conversation was best had later. Then Seamus took up the tale, and told them of the flight back to Hogwarts and a little bit more of what Madam Pomfrey and the other women had done in middle of the night. By the end the two women were speechless.

“… so, then yesterday afternoon Madam Pomfrey asked me some rather odd questions of a quite personal nature.” Seamus said.

“And then she came to me,” Lavender told the older women. “When they did the cleansing spells they cleared everything from my system, toxins, waste, potions, everything.”

Lavender’s mother nodded. “I see,” she said.

“No Mum, I don’t think you do,” Lavender responded, smirking, and remembering just how Madam Pomfrey told her. “I spent most of that day in wolf, and female wolves have a special ability. You see they can mate with the male and save the seed inside their bodies so that when the time is right they can conceive.”

Mrs. Finnigan’s eyes widened in understanding, but Mrs. Brown hadn’t got it yet.

Lavender took up her wand. For the tenth time since she had done it the day before, she waved her wand over herself and with a broad smile and said, “Conceptus Revelo”. Once again pink sparks flew from the end of her wand.

Mrs. Finnigan shrieked with joy. “Oh, Lavender, this is wonderful. You will be the best mother.”

Mrs. Brown looked perplexed. “But I thought …”

“Yes, Mum,” Lavender said. “We were trying very hard not to have a baby, as I was determined not to put a child through everything that I’ve been through, but umm … the fates had other ideas.”

Aye, they certainly did, my love, Seamus thought. Lavender had told him everything about her experiences during the assault on the compound and while she was being healed. He had been awed at the sheer enormity of what she had told him. Death had come to her, told her of her past, and of their special friendship; Death had taken her to meet the Fates, and they had given her and Seamus this precious gift.

“Well I think it’s grand,” Mrs. Finnigan said. “No one views you as anything other than a hero, and you can be certain your child will be treated well, even if she is a werewolf. We’ll make it work, won’t we, Sylvia?” Mrs. Brown nodded emphatically. “You deserve this, Lavender, and I know you want it.”

Lavender looked at the two women. “I was torn for a while,” — she looked into infinity for a moment, and then she came back to them — “really torn. Madam Pomfrey has given me the options, but I decided I wanted to go through with it pretty quickly.” She smiled at her husband, “And when Shay and I talked I was sure.” She smiled at her mothers. “It won’t be all sweetness for her, I know that. There’s little doubt she’ll be born a werewolf. They love me out there in the big broad world, but that’s just for what I’ve done, not who I am. The others are still in the same fix that werewolves have been in for the last ten thousand years. They’re isolated, alone really, even if they have family, most don’t want them around. I have to be realistic, Margaret. She will have to face the prejudice, but Seamus and I will make sure she’s better than that.”

“I’ll be right there with you, Lavender,” her mother said. “While you were talking just now I looked in myself, you know, to see how I feel, honestly, and I suppose I’ve just got used to it over the years. It was hard, after you were bitten, it was hard to… accept, to treat you as a person and not a monster. We failed at first,” — she shook her head and looked away— “Artie, Jazz, your dad and I, we failed, and I don’t think we’ve apologized quite enough.” She took Lavender’s hand, and looked in her eyes. “I love you, dear, and I’ll love your girl. No one will abuse her or you in any way while I’m around.”

Seamus’s mother watched the exchange smiling. “Good on you, Sylvia. Lavender’s known how I feel from the first.”

“Don’t take any guff, do you, Margaret?” Lavender asked, smiling.

Mrs. Finnigan laughed at the shared memory. “No, same as you dear.”

“Thought Mike and Sally were the last to give you grand kids, didn’t you, Mam?” Seamus said hugging his mother.

She smiled at him. “Aye, Seamus, happy to have been wrong though.”

“So there’ll be no more of this gallivanting around getting yourself cursed,” Mrs. Brown said sternly. “You’ve a baby to think about now.”

Seamus put his hand on his mother-in-law’s shoulder. “Lavender and I have been talking about leaving the department for a bit now, Sylvia. The kids’d all be at school next year, and we’d not be needed for security, so they’d be tempted to send us on more o’ these kinds o’ missions.” He shook his head. “‘S not what we signed on for. You’d be knowing the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Dedalus Diggle?” Sylvia nodded. “Well he’s getting on, and he wants to retire himself. We were talking a while back, we were, and he mentioned that he thought Lav would be a great DADA professor.” He smiled at Mrs. Brown “I spoke with him this morning before school. He’s seeing Professor Wright today and recommending Lav replace him.”

“That’d be a fine thing,” Mrs. Finnigan said. “Nice safe position, but you still get to help the young ones. Perfect for you really, Lavender.”

“I agree with that, Margaret,” Mrs. Brown said, and a sly smile spread on her face. “I was Emily’s prefect when she was in Ravenclaw. Hadn’t a clue then that she’d be headmistress material. Happy she is now though.” She chuckled to herself. “I’ll speak to her as well.”

Lavender nodded and smiled. “Selene Lyra Sylvia Margaret Finnigan,” she said as she rubbed her belly. “What do you think?”

Mrs. Brown ran her hand down her daughter’s hair. “Beautiful, darling, but who’s Lyra?”

“Just a nickname I picked up,” Lavender said, with a wink to her husband.

At a little past three in the afternoon a man appeared at the infirmary doors carrying a small blonde girl. A woman stood beside him and it was obvious she had been crying. Seamus rose from the chair next to his mother’s, and went to the couple and their child. “They let you go from Saint Mungo’s then?” The man nodded. “Good. She’s just this way.” Seamus led them back down the aisle.

Mrs. Finnigan and Mrs. Brown rose from their chairs as Seamus and the little family approached.

“Come down to The Grove as soon as you’re able, Lavender,” Mrs. Finnigan said to her. “You can stay as long as you like.”

“And don’t forget your dear old mum either,” Mrs. Brown told her.

Lavender smiled at her mothers. “You’ll be seeing a lot more of me and Seamus. I love you both, thanks for coming.”

“Take care, Lavender,” Mrs. Finnigan said as she patted Lavender’s hand. “I’ll see you soon.”

Mrs. Brown bent and hugged her daughter. “I love you,” she said in a husky voice. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“We won’t, Mum. I promise,” Lavender said as she hugged her mother back, “and remember the looks on Artemisia and Jasmine’s faces when you tell them. I want a full description when I see you again.”

“They’re going to flip, Lavender. Should be pretty funny,” Mrs. Brown said with an almost girlish giggle as she stood and straightened her robes.

Seamus drew her into a hug. “We’ll be around a fair bit more, and thanks for coming, Sylvia.”

“Thank you, Seamus,” she said, and stepped back to look at the man woman and child that accompanied him. She kneeled down to talk too the girl. “You’ve met my daughter?”

“Yes,” the girl replied. “I was rescued by Den God Vargen,” she said proudly, and turned to Lavender. “I told you I dreamt that you got hurt.”

Lavender took her hand. “Yes you did, but I had to stop those bad people, and I’ll be okay. In fact I’ll be better than ever.”

Mrs. Brown rose to her feet, and moved to Seamus’s side

He and his mothers were grinning broadly at the scene before them. “Lav, this is Gunter and Anna, you’ve met Carina. Gunter, Anna, Carina, this is my mother Margaret, Lavender’s mother Sylvia, and my wife Lavender.”

Gunter stepped forward and clasped Lavender’s hand. “I have no words big enough to thank you. My wife’s English is poor, but she cannot say even in Swedish how much she owes you.”

Lavender took Anna’s hand. “You’re welcome. I’m very happy no harm came to Carina. She’s a very special child, not many have the gift as she does.”

Tears flowed down Anna’s face. “Sank you so much, I …” and she fell to her knees and hugged Lavender fiercely. “You saved my Carina,” she said against Lavender’s shoulder. “I thought we’d lost her forever.”

Lavender patted her back as the woman cried. “It’s okay, she’s here now, and those people will never harm another child.”

Gunter looked Lavender in the eyes and she saw a raging fire there. “They are dead?” He nearly spat.

Lavender matched his expression. “Yes, all but one innocent guard, and I’m given to understand that my husband razed the place to the ground. Nothing of them remains.”

“Good,” he said as his wife rose from Lavender’s side.

The door to the office opened and Madam Pomfrey walked slowly up the aisle. “Alright, Seamus you know the rules, three at a time, no more than two hours. You’ve gone well beyond that, so say your goodbyes. Lavender needs her beauty sleep.”

“I’ve never seen her look more beautiful in my life,” Mrs. Brown said. “Goodbye, dear. I’ll see you soon.”

“Goodbye, Lavender,” Mrs. Finnigan said. “Come on, Sylvia,” she said as she put her hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “We’ve got baby shopping to do.” The two women strode back up the aisle chatting happily.

“We will be on our way as well,” Gunter said. “If you come to Sweden please visit with us, and thank you again.” He clasped Seamus’s hand and shook it vigorously.

Seamus returned his hand shake. “You can find your way back to the entrance hall?”

“Oh yes, Goodbye Mrs. Finnigan, Mr. Finnigan,” he said.

Carina stepped to Lavender’s bedside, rose on her toes and kissed her cheek. “Goodbye, God Vargen. Thank you,” she said.

Lavender wrapped her arms around the girl and kissed the top of her head. “Good bye, Carina. Use the gift wisely.” She took Anna’s hand, and the two women shared a look of understanding that no words could convey. One woman thanking the other for the safety of her child, one woman making it plain she would never have done anything less.
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