Chapter Text
Remus was sitting across from Harry at the dining room table. Severus was to his right while Sirius was to his left. Everyone had a set of cards in their hands. Remus was eyeing Severus who had managed to get his hand down to three. With a mischievous grin he placed a card down causing Remus to groan. Sirius and Harry giggled at him.
“Draw four,” Severus spoke tapping his remaining two cards against the tabletop.
Remus slapped his hand on the stack pulling the cards into his hand bringing the total to nine. Remus in a fit slammed a wild card down and switched the color to yellow after Severus had called green. The huff he received from his right made him feel a little better.
Marly was behind them by the sink. She had a phone pressed between her ear and shoulder as she unpacked her grandmother’s china. Occasionally she would tilt her body towards the boys after a loud reaction but for the most part she was busy chatting with her father.
“Draw four,” Harry cheerfully said next to Severus.
After a huff Severus looked towards the other two men, “Any news on Dumbledore?”
“Heard he was spotted outside his brother’s bar. Apparent he was greeted with a punch to the gut and a slew of curse words.” Remus informed.
“Abe never liked Albus even with the charm on him. Can’t imagine it getting better without it.” Sirius reversed the direction back to Remus who put another reverse on top of it. Harry complained.
Two weeks after the summer holidays started, owls were sent out from St. Mungos. It claimed of a flu outbreak and how the hospital was giving out medicine to help prevent it. They stressed that anyone could get it regardless of any infliction. They even sent owls to the parents of Muggleborns to receive the vaccine as well.
In the month that had followed a lot came to light.
A week after the first dosage was given, a shift seemed to tilt the entire wizarding world on its axis. A large amount of Dumbledore followers started to curse his name and pleaded to the Ministry for revenge. Years, if not decades had been lost to a man who used them like toy soldiers.
After the second week, Albus was stripped of all his titles. Accounts of his were shut down buy the Goblins. No one welcomed him in their shops and he avoided a public appearance because of the amount of curses and hexes that were slung towards him.
Marly caught him dodging a stupefy, if he wasn’t the most hated man in Britain she might have been impressed with how swiftly he moved.
The changes had started slowly. Rules and laws were quickly removed when they were noticed. Common sense and morality had sprouted through the community. Bans that were placed under the charm were eradicated silently. Over night Vampires, Goblins, Werewolves and Veela were all integrated into the British Wizarding world.
Amelia had started coming home later and later each night. The ministry was clearing people out of their ranks and trying to get the right people in the right place. When Marly had took Susan to see her Aunt one night, she had found Arthur Weasley in the department. Wearing fresh Auror clothes, Amelia explained that he had dreamed of being in law enforcement before Dumbledore’s involvement.
Marly later found out that Molly Weasley had gotten a job at the new Haven. She had always dreamed of being a school teacher and she wasn’t going to give up now.
Another department that was swamped? The Recorder's Office. More specifically the marriage sector. Divorces were being requested as soon as the charmed wore off. It was an unfortunate side effect that none really considered. Though sadden that families were breaking up and trying to find a new normal, it was better than being a mindless puppet.
Divorce wasn’t the only new consequence that was being brought to light. Missing children was a new issue no one thought about. Several families had given up children as part of their roles that was placed on them. Many were demanding with heartbroken voices to find their children. A few were found at the Haven, others had either disappeared altogether, or just aged out of the system. The kids that were left in the muggle community to appear as muggle borns were the hardest to find. When they were found, most were happy with their new adoptive family.
Such case was Hermoine Granger. The poor girl had no idea she was adopted till a Wizarding family had tracked her down. The magical couple were two half-bloods who had made the mistake of meeting Dumbledore. He had not only taken the girl from them, but split the two up and pushed them into new marriages. Overnight Hermoine went from being a muggleborn with no siblings to a half-blood with four half-siblings.
Severus had made contact with forget family as well. While digging through Albus’s files, she uncovered records of Severus’s extended family. An elderly couple had been desperately trying to get in touch with his for years only for those letters to be redirected. Once Minerva had mentioned it, a few hidden memories of a house in Italy floated two his mind. He had vague memories of the couple from his childhood and sent a message back.
Severus had decided to surprise Amelia and Susan with a weekend trip to Italy. Marly had heard Sirius and Severus talk about rings but she wasn’t sure who they were talking about, Vi or Amelia?
“UNO!” Sirius shouted only for Harry to reverse it back causing him to draw another card. Marly looked up from her box once more to see Sirius shoot Harry a dirty look.
“Ray?” Marly called as he placed a card onto the overflowing pile. He tilted his ear towards her to signal he was listening. “Do you have a passport?”
“No, why?”
“My family wants to meet you.”
“Ohhh,” Sirius taunted at his friend.
“Is it a good time?” Remus asked as he turned towards her. Sirius tried to sneak a peek at the cards but Harry cuffed him.
“Well, I can ask Lizza to take over the case for a month. She has some free time. Otherwise, I think the wizarding world is starting to fix itself. I think by the end of the month we’ll finally have enough support to arrest and charge Dumbledore.”
And how weird would that be? To have a world without and old man looming over them with a twisted smile. How weird would it be to no longer have to watch their backs at every turn. To be able to walk outside and smile at your neighbor and know that it truly is your neighbor and not some actor reading from a script.
How weird would it be to no longer have to collect evidence and fight from the shadows, Marly mused.
“I think we should arrest Dumbledore before taking a vacation.” Marly took his answer with a nod before returning to her phone call.
“Uno,” Harry quietly said as he placed a green card down.
“What do we do when he’s gone?” Severus asked the table. “What do you do when you get to be free after forgetting how to be?”
“Well,” Harry started placing his last card down ending the game, “After I left my relatives I had to learn how to do things again. There was a lot I had to learn for the first time. My therapist told me that I should take it one day at a time. I asked her what if that was too hard? She said, then take it one hour at a time, one minute, one second.
“Sometimes breaking it down smaller makes it easier. She told me that I don’t have to look at the bigger picture, that I can just focus on a corner for a while before moving on. She said when you focus on the small things it doesn’t seem so scary.”
“Good advice, Harry,” Sirius rustled his hair with a smile. “My therapist told me the same thing. Just look forward. If you keep focusing on the past, you forget to watch where you’re going.”
“Just keep going,” Remus spoke while nodding his head, “Just keep going.”