Harry Potter and Death's Mystery

Chapter 6

Regulus, Lavender, Cedric, Colin, and Myrtle sat in a small group, exchanging words about their (to that point) brief lives. Lavender and Colin explained the most, catching the others up to speed with recent events. Regulus couldn't help but feel that integrating himself into modern society might be a more arduous task than he had initially suspected. Myrtle, the only one who had been dead long before him, had been a ghost, so had at least some knowledge of the world she was to live in.

The Aurors, at that moment, had gone to inform the closest family members of the Returnees. For Cedric, it was his father Amos. For Colin, it was his parents (who were Muggles, and couldn't have been more confused) and little brother, Dennis. For Lavender, her parents as well. For Regulus, it was Andromeda Tonks, seeing as she was his oldest living relative. Myrtle, unfortunately, didn't have any living relatives, given the fact she had been dead for fifty-five years. She had been given permission to stay at Hogwarts until everything had settled down. 

When the Aurors had returned, the group of five each went with a designated Auror to bring them to their family. They were expected to report back to the Ministry in two days (the 3rd of July) for further investigation on their abrupt returns. Kingsley felt, however, that it was too much for the Returnees to handle all at once, so he allowed a day to rest. 

Despite having not begun training yet, Regulus was brought by Harry to Andromeda's house. The reason, he had soon heard, was that the baby, Teddy, was Andromeda's grandson and Harry's godson, who had joint custody of the baby following his parents' death. Not that Regulus knew who his parents were.

Harry, Regulus, and Teddy apparated to a field close to Andromeda's house, and walked the rest of the way.

It was awkward and odd for Regulus to be walking with his older brother's best friend's son, who was about the same age as him in looks. "Harry?" He asked quietly, trying to make a small talk with the other boy. "How old are you, exactly?" 

"Seventeen," replied Harry, "I'll be eighteen the end of the month." 

"So, we're about the same age," noted Regulus.

"Except for the fact you're supposed to be in your mid-thirties, and your older brother's my godfather." Harry joked.

"We're here," Harry said, tapping his wand on the doorknob causing it to open. "Andromeda!" He called into the house, leading Regulus into the kitchen.

Andromeda stood up from the stool she had been sitting at by the counter, and embraced her younger cousin. "I'm sorry about everything that's happened to you." She quickly grabbed Teddy from his godfather. "Sit, both of you, we have a lot to discuss."

Harry and Regulus sat down across from her, and with a flick of her wand, both had a glass of water in front of them. "Do you know how this has happened? And do you think —" her unspoken question filled the room with uneasiness. 

"We have theories, but no sound advice. As for if anyone else, returning, I'm not going to lie. I don't know for sure. We're only going to be certain once they come back. I think that they're coming back in age order, youngest to oldest, so since Tonks was only twenty five, we should know if she'd be back very soon." Harry informed her. "But, we can't know for sure."

Andromeda nodded, "I know. It's just I've gotten my hopes up. Dora, Remus, Ted, Sirius…."

"I know," said Harry, "I feel the same about my parents, Sirius, Remus, Fred, Tonks — pretty much anyone who died for me."

Regulus took a sip of water, "Have a little faith they'll come back. I mean, even Moaning Myrtle's no longer a ghost." 

Harry frowned and rubbed his temple, "Problem is. If I have faith, and I'm let down, then I'll just be disappointed. If I have no faith, then it won't be a let down if they don't come back."

■■■

Myrtle sat in the Great Hall alone. The House tables had been taken out, and only a small table had been put in its place. She was picking at her food, afraid she'd not be able to stomach something after not eating for half a century. 

McGonagall entered the hall, and sat across from her. "Anything wrong, Miss Warren?" 

Myrtle was slightly taken aback by the name. She had become so used to the name "Moaning Myrtle" anything else just felt odd. 

"I'm alright," she muttered.

"Are you excited that you're back?"

"I don't know." Myrtle twirled her fork again. "I'm not used to it, yet."

"That's understandable. I set up a cot for you in the Ravenclaw Common Room for the time being, so it is at least somewhat close to where you were." 

Myrtle nodded, "Thank you. I'm going to bed. It's been a long day."

"Good night, Miss Warren." As the girl trudged to bed, McGonagall couldn't help but sadly note that this girl was supposed to have been older than her.

■■■

Dennis Creevey had not left his older brother's side all day on the second. It didn't bother Colin, however, as both boys had been very close before Colin's untimely death.

They had tried to do many things they had enjoyed doing when they were younger. The boys had risen bright and early, and sat out on the brick wall outside their house. Waiting for their father (who was a milkman) to finish his rounds for the morning. They also played football, and other sports. 

And for just a minute, they forgot that they were two teenagers who had just survived, or came back from the dead after, a war.

■■■

Cedric spent his time with his father, talking about what had changed over the past two years, and such.

His father fawned over him, attending to his every need, and not letting him leave his sight. Despite being annoying, Cedric allowed it, because to him one night had been two years for his father. 

Before he had gone to his father, Harry had gone to him, to tell him that their winnings had gone to a shop for the Weasley twins, and said that he would pay back what Cedric had rightfully earned. Cedric turned him down, saying that he didn't need the winning money as much as Fred and George had. He had been fond of the twins, the three of them had been in the same year, and they had a few classes together. Those had always been some of Cedric's favourites, since the twins knew how to defuse the rigid classroom tension, and make the whole class laugh.

A lot of things had changed since then, but then again, they didn't. Cedric was only supposed to be twenty, which isn't much off from different to seventeen. But it seemed like a whole new world that he had been dropped in.

■■■

Lavender sat on the floor of her family's living room, feeding carrots to her pet rabbit, Copper. She had gotten Copper after the death of Binky years before. 

Her family was with her, but none of them talked. They all seemed content to sit in silence, watching as Copper ate. 

Lavender unconsciously rubbed the scars that now littered her body from Greyback. She was fortunate that she wasn't to be a full fledged werewolf. Fortunately, death had been kind to her. Instead of looking as if she had been mauled, like Bill Weasley did, her scars were thin and white. Yet, she found a strong liking towards meat on the rawer side.

Her mind wandered to her friends, once she was given the okay, the first thing she would do was write a letter to Parvati. Crazy how much one's life can flip if one's been dead for two months.