Archive of Our Own

[Archie Black]

"It's starting again, isn't it?"

Archie’s voice was resigned as he gave voice to the fear that had been eating at him since the Ruse had come crashing down weeks ago.  A fear that he knew was all too real. A truth that he knew, could not be avoided.  It wasn’t over, he knew it wasn’t…would it ever be over?  Would they ever be able to let go of the mess they’d made? Let go of Rigel?

Harry's face hardened in response. "Riddle started it. I'm going to try and finish it."

"It won't be that easy." Didn't she see that? "You're not just pretending to be me anymore, Harry. You're pretending to be a wanted criminal. Riddle, the Ministry, the public—they all want a piece of him." Harry said nothing, and Archie sighed. "I don't have to tell you it's dangerous. Just think about why you're doing it."

Harry's eyes, that decadent, disastrous green, flashed in the lamplight. "What do you mean, why? The Vow—"

Archie shook his head. "When we started this, you could pretend it was for me, at least partially. Not anymore. I don't want this…but I'm starting to think you do."

Under the red skin, he still saw the flush in her cheeks. The excitement. He hadn't seen Harry this way in a long time. Not since the beginning, maybe. The guilt in her eyes was what confirmed it, though. Part of her was relieved. Part of her…had missed it.

"You're invested, Harry. This is more than just the Vow."

Harry bowed her head, and a moment’s silence drifted between them.  It pained him to have seen the guilt in her eyes - to know the truth in what he’d feared.  He wanted to stop, to say no more and let it go, to not cause her any more pain than he already had - through the Ruse which had changed her so much.  But he couldn’t… He knew he couldn’t.  She started to speak, mentioning Dumbledore’s name, but he cut her off before his nerve failed him.

“I can’t do this anymore, Harry.  I can’t…”  His words sped up as he continued, as if he’d opened the dam and now everything he’d been holding back was tumbling out despite himself.  “We’ve always been in this together, and I’m grateful - I’m so grateful for the opportunity all this has given me.  But I can’t do this anymore.  Dad… I… We’re doing better.  We’re both trying so hard to fix this, but… I don’t know if he could take it if I hurt him like this again.  If I started all the lies again.  I don’t know if I could fix it.”

His eyes had blurred, and he felt the first tears start to track down his face as everything rose up to the surface and was yanked into the emotional stream he was pouring out.

“I love my dad, Harry.  And I love you, and Aunt Lily, Uncle James, Addy, Remus…  I love you all so much, and we were so close to losing all of that.  To everything breaking in a way that we’d never be able to fix.  I can’t… I can’t risk that again.  And you… Rigel, he… This isn’t a ruse anymore, Harry.  It’s not a game.  I can’t push the risks away and pretend they don’t exist.  The world is looking for Rigel and that’s not… You can’t escape that, Harry.  If you start again, if Rigel comes back, they’ll find you.  Azkaban isn’t a risk anymore, it’s the reality.  And I… I don’t think I could live with myself if I helped you end up there…  Please… Just let it go… Let him go…”

He’d done it.  His fears were in the open now, and despite the tears that were now streaming down his face he felt glad for it.  Emotionally spent, but glad.  Harry was deathly silent, and as he chanced a glance at her he saw the tears tracking her face too.  But her eyes, her eyes were so sorrowful, not accepting.  He knew what was coming before she said it.

“Archie… I… The Vow, it…” she trailed off momentarily, but before he could find the words to say anything she picked the thread back up in a soft, apologetic tone of voice.  “No… It’s not just the Vow.  I mean, the Vow is part of it… If the Vow applies and I do nothing, I’ll die, Archie. I can’t… I won’t let that happen.  But… You’re right… Sometimes I don’t know who I am anymore.  I was Rigel for so long, I don’t know who Harriet Potter is beyond an opposite to Rigel Black. Each life is like a different half of me and to lose one half…what does that leave?  Mum and Dad look at me like they don’t know me any more, and how could they when I don’t even know myself?  All I know is that I miss being Rigel as well as Harry. And I miss Draco, and Pansy, and…”

She reached up and scrubbed the tears from her face vigorously, before finishing.  “I need this, Arch.  It’s not over…  I need to fulfil the Vow, but more than that I… I can’t leave things as they are.”

Then, she turned over on her mattress, pulling her bedspread up to her chin, clearly putting an end to the conversation.  He watched her for a moment, desperately sad but no longer knowing what to say.  This game, that they’d played together for four long years, was at an end.  They’d passed the crossroads without acknowledging it, and now each had their own path to follow.

As he flicked his wand to turn out the light, and got comfortable in his own bed for the night, all he could do was hope that eventually their paths would come back together, and they’d both still be whole.

-0—0—0-

[Harriet Potter]

The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

The AIM banners fluttered in an invisible, magical breeze, and confetti covered most of the surfaces in the room.  Party-hats adorned the heads of all sat around the table - be they Potter, Black or Granger.  Heck, Sirius had even brought the snakes in from the garden to be part of the celebration - they were part of the family too, after all, he’d insisted - and conjured tiny magically-fixed party hats for them too.  It was a celebratory scene if there ever was one.  Archie had gotten re-admitted to AIM - it was a genuine, honest-to-god reason to be happy.  And yet, she felt so isolated and alone.

She felt so distant from her family now.  In their grand plan, it was so simple.  They’d get through the seven years, switch back, and bed back into normalcy.  Sure, they’d made contingency plans - they weren’t stupid - and thank god they had given how things had turned out.  But even in those she hadn’t really planned for this.

The atmosphere at home was so tense now, and she seemed to always be feeling on edge.  Her mother and father didn’t trust her anymore - something that, she knew, was perfectly justified given everything that had happened.  Remus watched carefully from a distance, and was as kind as he always had been - even helping with her deliveries to Krait - but she could tell he suspected more than he was saying.  Their relationship was just…uncomfortable now, with so much going unsaid.

And then there was Archie and Sirius.  The whole ordeal seemed to have, miraculously, made them closer than ever.  And that was great.  Really great.  She was happy for them - she was!  …But at the same time, it really hurt…

It hurt to see the forgiveness there.  The growing comfort and happiness that was such a polar opposite to the situation between her own family.  And it hurt, more than anything else, that Archie had told her he wanted out.  They’d been in it together for four years.  Four years.  But now she was alone, buffeted between a family that felt like it was falling apart around her, and the happy ending Archie had found for himself.  It wasn’t fair.

She didn’t want to feel the jealousy she felt when Hermione visited, but she did.  She did, knowing that she’d likely never see any of her school friends again - and if she did, she could never know them again.  She did, knowing that her father had effectively forbidden her from seeing the rest of her friends.  Her curfew may be lifted, but her parents had been clear about the alleys being off limits for now, and it was hard to sneak away much with their restrictions bearing down on her and her desire to do no more damage.  So she was left with only herself.  Her thoughts, her potions, the destabilised relationship with her parents, and the overwhelming weight of the Vow bearing down on her shoulders.

Even in what were supposed to be happy moments, like now… They had barely started eating when it began.  A supposedly innocuous conversation, joking about checking up on Archie at AIM, turned so rapidly into another battle in the seemingly never ending civil war between herself and her father.

"I could spy on Harry in the alleys as well, Mr. Potter." Hermione gave James a winning smile.

James looked a little too interested in this offer, so keen to cut it off quickly, Harry cut in, "No need to go to any trouble, Hermione."

"I work in the clinic anyway, so it would be no trouble." Hermione's smile had an edge Harry didn't trust. "Only until the end of the summer, of course. I can't look out for her during the school year."

"I have plenty of people looking out—"

"Harry won't be returning to the alleys—"

A chill seemed to sweep across her as she stared at her father, and he stared right back.

"Harry," he said slowly. "Homeschooling means schooling…at home."

"But my apartment is—”

“No, Harry.” he interrupted, voice a little firmer this time.  “From home means from home.  That apartment isn’t necessary any more.”

There was silence for a moment, as she blinked in response, before the indignation started to build inside her.  “What do you mean?”

James put his cutlery down with a clink.  “I mean, Harry, that you won’t be hiding any more.  You’re going to be living at home now, so you don’t need the apartment.  I’m going to visit the landlady next week to discuss the ending of your lease.”

Anger washed through her at this.  He couldn’t just… That place was hers, whether she’d really lived there or not.  Leo had gotten her everything to outfit it, and it was her escape, her place in the Alleys.

“You can’t just do that! That apartment is my—”

“Harry,” her mother’s voice cut in gently.  “Harry, you’re fourteen…you can’t live on your own, especially not in an area like that.”

Sirius cleared his throat from across the table, sounding a little uncomfortable as he did so.  “Maybe we should discuss this later, huh?  Hermione, why don’t you tell us—”

“No.” she cut in.  “No, you can’t just announce that and expect me to leave it alone, dad.  I’ve lived there for four years, I’ve got friends and a life there.  You’ve no right to—”

“Enough, Harry.” James exclaimed, frustration bleeding into his own voice now.  “This isn’t up for discussion.  If you’re going to be home schooled, you’ll be living at home.  Where Lily can check your work and Remus can help you with any practical portions you don't understand."

James' eye-contact had not wavered.  She fumed silently.  But it was what he said next that really tipped her anger into overdrive.

“You won’t be spending any more time there, Harry.  You need to accept that.  Like your mother said, you’re fourteen, it’s not safe.  You can’t go gallivanting around Knockturn as you please.  You can’t justify it by saying you’ve done it already, because you wouldn’t have done it already if you hadn’t been lying to us for four years!”

“But my friends are—”

“Not appropriate for a fourteen year old, Harry!”

“James!” Lily exclaimed, concern filling her voice.  “This isn’t the time or place.”

Her father grunted quietly, and tore his eyes back to his plate as he retrieved his cutlery.  Yet she couldn’t look away.  Anger burned inside her, and suddenly everything that she’d been trying so desperately to keep a lid on - to hide, and to ignore - was coming rushing to the surface.

Why wouldn’t he stop pushing her?  Why couldn’t he understand?  She’d been trying, trying so hard to be what they expected.  To be quiet, and stay out of their way, causing no trouble, and being normal.  But he just kept pushing.  It would never be enough.  Her potions had never been what he wanted, her interests weren’t what he liked, he hated her friends…her community…Leo. She wasn’t the daughter he wanted.  She wasn’t enough.

Her emotions were whirling through her head.  Her guilt at the lies, her stress over the Vow, the loss of her life as Rigel, her desperation over Archie’s retreat from the ruse, her anger at her father, her anger at the unfairness of the world.  She felt them like a great tide battering against her mind, which felt like a dam spidered with cracks from holding onto it all for so long.

A vase across the room shattered, as she desperately fought to reign it in and retain control.  They all looked over at the vase startled, but there was no reprieve.  Her father’s upset face turned back to her, but her mother jumped in quickly before he could say anything.

“Harry, calm down. You know you can’t do magic around the house.  Apologise to Sirius.”

Her mother didn’t see either, she didn’t understand.  She just added another log to the pile.  Your fault Harry, apologise Harry, no you can’t Harry.  Her foundations were crumbling.  It was all so, so tiring.  Why couldn’t they just let her be herself? Give her something?  Why couldn’t all of this just go away, why…

Sirius had jumped in to wave away her mother’s request quickly, keen to defuse the situation, but now her father had jumped in to insist on an apology too.  The Grangers looked stunned, and Addy started bawling - Archie turning quickly to try and quiet her. She couldn’t take this, she couldn’t, she…

She closed her eyes tight, willing herself to hold on.  Just willing as hard as she could.  But it was not to be.  Treeslider, her…Rigel’s familiar, who had been on the floor with the other snakes, had slithered his way onto the table in front of her in the midst of the argument and was hissing at her in alarm.

“Sssspeaker, sssspeaker be calm!  Ignore the flessshlingsss.  We ssshould get tasssty miccce and...”

The dam broke.  Her will broke.  It was too much, coming from too many sides, and despite herself she felt herself yelling in frustration.

“Treeslider, not now!  Be sssilent!”

It was only as she finished that she realised her mistake.  Parseltongue.  She couldn’t speak Parseltongue… It was Rigel that spoke Parseltongue.

Deathly, deathly silence fell across the table.  The air seemed to be sucked out of the room, as the moment seemed to hang before them all like a frozen pocket of time.  She felt the blood drain from her face as she opened her eyes to take in her family.

Sirius was gaping at her like a fish.  Her parents looked utterly stunned.  Archie looked like a deer in the headlights.  And Remus… Remus just looked so, so old.  Like…like his worst fears had been confirmed.  He knew.

It could only have been a matter of seconds that had passed, but to her it felt like an eternity.  Her brain stuttered and stumbled into life, reaching only one conclusion.  One certainty.  The game was up.  She had to go.

The moment shattered, the air rushed back in, the panic set in, and she moved.

Her chair crashed to the floor as she threw herself out of it and made for the door, her mother’s shocked voice calling out after her.  She dashed frantically into the living room and threw her hand out behind her to seal the door, as the noise from behind told her they were making to follow.  They couldn’t know, they mustn’t know, but now they did know.

She felt like she was standing in the middle of a greenhouse, a stone having come through the roof and shattered the delicate structure - glass falling all around her, and tearing into her flesh as it struck her.  There was nothing left, only ruins and pain, and other stones were heading straight for the empty panes - straight for her.

She needed to go, she needed some stability, some comfort, to feel loved.  A home.  Anything to take her out of the maelstrom she found herself in.  And she knew, there was only one place where she’d find it.  Only one option left to her.  Rigel was gone, hunted by all that knew of him.  Harriet was exposed, laid low by the lies and the repercussions that those lies spread.  Harry was all she had left.

She cast a handful of floo powder into the grate and called out for The Leaky Cauldron desperately.  The fire flashed into being, as the door behind her crashed open and her family flooded into the room.

“Harriet Potter, what-” her father thundered.

“Harry, wait-” Remus pleaded.

A cacophony of noise as they all called out, reached out, trying to stop the inevitable.  But as she stepped into the fire before they could stop her, as the floo tugged at her and dragged her away towards her only refuge, it was Archie’s quiet plea that reached her ears and plunged the dagger deeper into her heart.

“Don’t do this, Harry!”

But it was done.  She was gone.  The ruse was finally over.  Everything was aflame.

-0—0—0-

[James Potter]

He stood in the centre of the living room at Grimmauld Place, stunned, as chaos unfurled around him.

Lily was sobbing next to him as Remus tried to calm her down.  Archie stood in front of the fireplace - the green flames of the floo having receded into nothing - arms stretched out attempting to bar the way to it.  Sirius was shouting, asking what his son was playing at.  His youngest daughter was screaming from Hermione’s arms by the door to the room.  The Grangers were making no noise themselves, he noted.  They were probably in shock at what they’d seen.

In shock.  Just like he was, just like they all were.  How had everything gone so wrong?  How was he left standing here, now, the pieces of his family falling around him in flames, and his daughter… His beloved daughter, gone.  He didn’t want to think about why that was.  He couldn’t.  Not now.

He had to do something.  He had to fix this.  He had to find her.

He blinked, and felt the cool focus of his Auror training slide over him.  Compartmentalise, and act.  There’ll be time for thinking later, he told himself, breaking his moment of shock and moving forward towards his godson.

“Get out of the way, Archie.”

But Archie was insistent.  Sliding over to get directly in front of him as he approached.

“No!  Uncle James, you can’t go after her.  You of all people can’t—”

“Harry is my daughter!” he thundered back.  “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do, Archie! Get out of the way!”

“I won’t.” he insisted.  “She doesn’t want you to… You don’t want to know—”

“I think we all bloody well know at this point, Archie!  You said she was safe, you said it wasn’t her!”

“James, calm it!” Sirius yelled at him, as he shouldered him out of the way to kneel in front of his son.  He spoke gently to him, trying to persuade him of reason.  “Arch, I get wanting to protect her, but this isn’t the way.  We can’t let her leave like this.  You know that.”

Archie wavered slightly, but as James made to move around them he seemed to regain his determination and moved with him.

“I’m telling you, don’t.” he insisted.  “I can explain it all to you.  She wouldn’t want you following her right now.”

The way Archie had said you cut through him like a hot knife.  His blood ran cold as his mind flicked back to their conversation in the kitchen several days prior.

“I don't know that you can blame Harry entirely for your situation, though."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James dared him to say it, but Archie was not afraid of his uncle.

"You pushed her away before she ever drew back herself."

It was true.  He knew it was true, as he’d known it was when Archie had first said it to him.  He’d pushed Harry away.  Their relationship had always felt so…distant in recent years, and he’d never worked at it like he should have.  She was so…different from what he expected, what he was comfortable with.  And they’d…he’d never made the time to do something about it.  And now it might be too late.  He might have lost something he could never get back.  Well, not if he could help it.

His voice was very calm when he replied to his godson.  Calm, but laced with the pain he felt at this whole situation.

“You were the one who told me to run after her, Archie.  How can I fix this if you won’t even let me try?”

He saw the moment his godson’s resolve broke, and he pushed past quickly, heading for the fireplace.  How long had it been?  5 minutes?  Would he be able to find her?

“Sirius, Remus, can you look—”

“I’m coming with you.” Lily choked out as she hurried after him, trying to get a handle on her tears.  He couldn’t even begin to protest before Remus broke in too.

“We’ll all go.” Remus intoned quietly, but firmly.  “I know where she’ll go.  She’s your daughter, James, Lily, but she’s family to all of us.”

Sirius was nodding firmly in the background, and Archie looked restless but likewise in agreement.  He didn’t have time to argue with them.  They had to go, now.  Every minute he wasted here felt like more sand slipping through his fingers.  But Addy…

His eyes flicked over to the door where Hermione was still trying to soothe his youngest daughter.

“Go.” she said, softly.  “My parents and I will look after her.  Do what you need to do.”

His throat choked up, and he found he couldn’t say anything even as Archie threw out earnest, heartfelt thanks to his friend.  All he could do was nod.  By now Remus was past him, casting a handful of floo powder into the grate and calling out their destination.  The fire roared green, and he turned and hurried into its warm embrace as it swept him away.

He thanked Merlin that floo was a near instantaneous form of travel, as the group of them burst out of the Leaky Cauldron into Diagon Alley a handful of seconds later.  Remus took point, and the group of them raced through the alley as quickly as they could.  Towards Knockturn.

If he’d thought for a moment, he’d have known that’s where she’d go.  From what Remus had quietly told him and Lily, after she’d been extracted from that apartment of hers, she knew those back alleys like the back of her hand.  Had friends there who Remus claimed would die for each other.  But nighttime in Knockturn was not a place of friends, he knew that all too well from his work.  More than just unsavoury types lurked in this place after dark.  The kind of beings that neither friends nor family could help you from.

His heart pounded with fear as Remus led them forwards.  If they didn’t find her… If someone else did…  But his thoughts were cut off as Remus drew to a halt, and he thumped non-too gently into his friend’s back.  Looking ahead, he didn’t need to ask why - the alley was at a crossroads, and his friend was trying to decide which way Harry would have gone.

It was his auror-honed senses that told him there was someone there - in the shadows of a shop to the right of them.  His wand was out before he could stop himself, levelled at the dark.  But Remus sighed in relief, ignoring his reaction to hurry over.

“Mr Krait, thank goodness.” he extolled to the shrouded figure.  “Has Harry been by this evening?  We need to find her.”

“She doesn’t want to see you.  You shouldn’t be here.” came the firm reply.

James couldn’t help himself, darting forward towards the pair.  As he approached, the shadows receded slightly and he made out an older man who looked somewhat gruff stood in front of a somewhat run-down shop named ‘The Serpent’s Storeroom’.  His eyes widened.  Harry had told them not two weeks ago that this was one of the places she sold her potions.  Remus had waxed lyrical about how they sold Wolfsbane at cost price here.

“Please!” he blurted out, and the man - Krait, it seems - swivelled his eyes to him.  “Please, she’s my daughter.  We have to find her.  I… I can’t let her…”

Krait was silent for a moment, and he felt Lily approach his side in the silence.  Perhaps it was his own words, or perhaps it was his wife’s tear streaked face that did it, but after a moment the reply they needed came.

“So there’s more than just the one of her family that cares for her…  She went left, toward the Phoenix.”

“Thank you.” he breathed out earnestly, and they all turned to hurry towards the path to the left.  But Krait’s voice carried after them as they went, leaving a sense of foreboding in him as they hurried on.

“Be careful that way.  We look after our own round here, but you’re not one of our own, even if Harry is.”

They plowed on.  James could tell Lily was struggling with the pace, but they couldn’t afford to stop.  There was nought but grim silence and heavy breathing from the group as they twisted and turned through the alleys.  Until finally, finally they turned a corner and froze.

They were at the opening to a small square, filled with light and cheer.  A large building dominated the square - The Dancing Phoenix - James read from the sign.  But it wasn’t the building that stopped them.  Because there, in front of the Phoenix, huddled a small group of people who looked far too serious for the cheerful atmosphere surrounding them.  Most, he did not recognise, but his eyes quickly picked out Leo Hurst and Lily choked out a sob next to him as their eyes next alighted on the smallest figure in the group - Harry.

“Harry!” Remus called out, and they all made to hurry forwards as the group started and turned towards them.  A look of shock and fear was plastered across his daughter’s face, and it pained him so much to see it directed at them - at him.  

But they had only made it a few paces into the square when a quiet voice wrapped around them, freezing them where they stood.

“This place is not for you, fleshlings.”

From around them, figures seemed to almost erupt from the shadows wrapping the entrance to the square.  Suddenly, James found them confronted with what were very plainly, six vampires.  Immaculately dressed vampires, but vampires nonetheless.  His blood ran ice cold, but he showed none of his trepidation as he spoke up - despite being fully aware from the corner of his eyes that the rest of their group were all drawing wands in response to this unexpected threat.

“We have no quarrel with you, vampires.  We will cause no trouble.”

Speaking to vampires wasn’t one of his strongest skills even in moments where he wasn’t an emotional wreck, he knew.  It was so easy to offend them, and that was often a fatal mistake.  Better to be too polite and sound foolish than let emotions get the best of you, however you were feeling under the surface.

The lead vampire bowed slightly before replying.  “Most assuredly so, however I am afraid that such assurances are insufficient this evening.  Your presence offends one to whom we owe much, and thus your presence cannot be tolerated, I am afraid.”

The female vampire to his left hissed angrily, but before he could even compose a reply in his mind his daughter’s voice floated across the square towards them.  The group she had been with was approaching them.  Their faces were mostly hard, and made it clear how unwelcome his family were.  Leo looked determined, hovering protectively at Harry’s side.  Harry, he was upset to see, just looked so tired.

“Kasten, Irvina.  Please, it’s alright.  Don’t harm them.  Just keep them away.”

“It shall be as you wish.” the lead vampire - Kasten, James mentally associated - replied, before stepping to the side to allow Harry’s group to approach.  They stopped, alongside the vampires and James found he didn’t know what to say.

“Harry, I…” he began, before words lost him.

“Harry, baby, please come back home.  We can talk about this, I promise.” Lily begged through her tears to his left, and Harry’s face seemed to just break at the words.  Just crumpled, like she was filled with such abject misery that he could almost feel his heart breaking in two for his daughter.

“I can’t, mum.” she whispered.  “I’m putting you all in danger just staying with you.  I…”  Her voice cracked as she continued.  “I don’t think I belong there anymore.”

“Harry, please don’t do this.  Don’t leave.” Archie jumped in, desperately.  “I know I said I couldn’t do this anymore, but we’ll find a way - we always do, you and me!”

Tears began to fall down Harry’s face, and Leo reached over to carefully wipe them away for her - a look of such fondness on his face that James didn’t know how he’d never seen it before between them.  But she shook her head, swinging her eyes to Remus, and then across the group.

“You know.” she intoned, as if looking into their soul as she said it.  “You all know.  This isn’t… The Harry you know doesn’t exist anymore… She can’t, because if she does… Azkaban will be her home.  I’m Rigel Black, and I have been from the start.  And the Vow… It’s calling me…”

Lily broke into loud, wracking sobs, as if the truth was something that she could no longer deny to herself.  A truth he’d acknowledged himself since he heard the Parseltongue during dinner.  

“Lass, we should go.” Leo said, quietly, but urgently.  “This can’t be helping you, and you can’t be found here having admitted that.  There are unfriendly ears around at night, and the Guild’s reach isn’t infinite to fight them back.”

The tears were streaming down Harry’s face now, as she looked longingly at them as if… As if this was goodbye, he realised.  As if she’d never see them again.  Suddenly desperate, he started forwards, tried to reach her, but the vampires were waiting.  He found himself gripped by arms stronger than arms had any right to be, and a series of wands pointed at him from the others in Harry’s group.  Remus was frantically whispering to the others to do nothing, behind him.  This was it, then.  There was no way out.

Harry looked at him for a moment longer, then Lily, Archie, all of them, before her eyes came back to his.  Finally, she nodded, and whispered out a reply.  “Please, let’s go Leo.  I don’t know if I can…”

She needed no reply.  Leo’s arms wrapped around her, and began the motions for apparition.  He could do nothing, but he had to tell her - she needed to know.

“Harry, I love you so much!” he cried out.  “I—I’m so sorry.  For everything.”

Her body began to compress before his eyes, body being squeezed into the metaphysical apparition tube Leo was creating for them.  But as his daughter popped into nothing before him, a nothing from which he knew Rigel Black would be emerging wherever the other side of the tube was, her reply found its way across the group to him.

“I know. I’m sorry too.”

And then she was gone.  His heart broke, and the wreckage of their, all of their choices lay littered around him.  He wondered, in that moment of misery, whether when all was said and done, and Rigel Black’s fate was decided, Harriet Potter and her family would ever meet again.

He desperately wished it so.