First, I want to thank all of you SO much for sticking with me as this story developed, and for the show of support I'm getting still as I prep to launch into part two of this series. Writing Telling Time has been an incredible growing experience for me as a writer, and as a person. This update does conclude Telling Time, and it will be marked as a complete story as soon as this is posted. For some announcements.
* I will be taking some time to finish plotting out the rest of the series before starting Part Two - Seeking Time. I don't anticipate that will take too long, so don't panic. First chapter of Seeking Time will be posted before Christmas, at latest.
* This is the last post for this story. If you want to be sure you get an alert when Seeking Time is posted, please make sure to hit the "follow author" button and keep your eyes out for that title.
* Special thanks to my Beta, CherriiMarina, for her input and editing skills as I write this story. In particular, thanks to her for being the best friend a girl could want, and for threatening me with grievous bodily harm anytime I just want to quite writing. As she's also my roomie, her threats are most certainly something she could feasibly carry out, so I push past my self doubt and frustration and get to writing. She's a genius.
* Further thank you to Sierra, Bethany, Yamali, Jenna, Amanda, Deidre, Shanna, Mariska, and Emma - you ladies know who you are - my cheerleaders. Thank you all so much for the support, both on Telling Time and Lost Founder, and in my life as a while. Rock stars, all of you!
Without any further delay... the epilogue of Telling Time...
Two women with dark brown hair stood side by side atop a hill, looking down on the gates of Hogwarts, at the line of injured people flooding into the newly established refugee camp. One woman's eyes were brown, like her mother's, but the other had blue eyes. They both appeared to be in their thirties, though both were considerably older than that. One was a witch and the other a squib, or so she claimed. The witch often wondered if her companion simply chose not to use her magic. Of course, as the latter's life was spent working with creatures - humanoid and otherwise - fancy spellwork was hardly necessary in her day to day life.
"So that's Hermione Granger," the blue-eyed one sighed as she gazed, British accent thick but far from garbled. "Does she know I'm here?"
The elder, brown-eyed woman scoffed. "She doesn't know I'm alive, much less here. The last honest to God conversation I had with my mother was years and years before you were even conceived, so no, she doesn't know about you at all. Of course, given how much my mother tends to know about things she shouldn't know about, she may know about you if Galahad has opened his big mouth, just not who you are to her. Follow me, I'd like to just…"
"Spy on her a bit more?" the other teased. "Lucy Slytherin, could you be more juvenile?"
Lucy glared at her companion. "That's rich, coming from you, young lady. I've waited all these years to see her again, to be free of this damned immortality, and she doesn't even know I still exist. Call me petty, but I do plan on at least enjoying the look of utter shock on her face when I confront her. Also hardly fair when you've left her grappling with Griphook for three weeks trying to hunt you down."
"When you confront her is the issue at hand, mother," the blue-eyed woman commented. "If not for your stalling, I'd have answered Galahad's calls the first time. The poor chap is probably worried sick by now. Further, you claim you wish to be free to live and age normally, and yet she's been back in her proper time stream for how long now? Two years?"
"Two years exactly to the day," Lucy replied. "I'm an advocate for comic timing. She vanished from my life on May the second, and I will show up to haunt her today, on the exact same day."
By this point, Lucy and her daughter were close enough to overhear the conversation taking place between Hermione and Minerva McGonagall. The Head of the Order and the Head of Hogwarts stood side by side at the gates of of the school, ushering in the latest batch of refugees. Nearly seven hundred witches and wizards were already here. Classrooms that had not been used in years were now utilized as living space for the displaced population. The castle was not the only thing impacted, however. The Quidditch Pitch was being utilized as a shopping center of sorts - shop owners bringing what they could salvage from their stores in Diagon Alley and other such places, in order to provide fellow refugees with clothing, food services, and thanks to Garrick Ollivander, new wands to those in need. Gringotts was inaccessible at this point, so Lucy imagined that someone was helping to coordinate a fair barter system. When things eventually went back to normal, the proprietors should not be left destitute for their charity.
"If you require medical attention, please see our volunteer mediwitch and wizards in the large white tent!" Hermione announced to the roughly two hundred newcomers who'd just gotten off the Hogwarts Express.
"Wise to bring people here by train," Lucy commented. "It allows for Order members to clear anyone coming, ensuring none of Voldemort's people just show up and play helpless."
Her companion nodded in agreement as Hermione's direction continued. "If you do not need medical attention, please go directly to the registration tent - that big blue one over there - and we'll get you sorted and settled in as soon as we can. I know you're tired, but please bear with us, as we are trying to ensure the safety of everyone here."
"Who's manning administration today?" Minerva asked.
"Annabeth and Evelyn showed up this morning, asking how they could help, so I put them both in there," Hermione replied. "I think Patrick and Dora are also in there. Who's in Medical?"
"Irma and Jackie. I suspect Charlie is in there helping out as well. He apparated in only a half hour ago," Minerva said. "I just saw Molly a few minutes ago, and she said he found her, said hello, and then said he was off to find somewhere to be helpful. As medi-training is required to be a Dragon Handler, he likely ended up there before long."
Lucy sighed as she took the scene in, allowing her focus to drift away from her mother for a moment. The air smelled like blood and sweat as the many injured walking by them now were being assessed by Minerva's brother Malcolm, who was handling triage today. Each person was given a color - purple or orange - which would sort them into two lines in front of the medical tent. Orange meant urgent, and was the shorter line and the first taken to be treated by the more experienced Mediwitch on duty - Malcolm McGonagall's wife Jackie in today's case. Those tagged purple would be seen in order by the secondary Mediwitch or wizard - Irma Pince today - who would treat them. If someone like Charlie Weasley was available when they had refugees coming in, someone with basic medical skills, the secondary would hand off the more superficial injuries to him or her.
"I don't know how many more Hogwarts can take," Minerva said softly, not wanting to be overheard. "It will be hard to run a school with all these extra people around, come September, and we both know we'll have more people here by then, not less."
"I know the school is a bit packed at the moment, but we cannot turn people away and I can't get them out of here until I can manage to get the damned link between the other Rooms of Requirement working."
"Term starts in four months, by which time there will be more people here, not less. If you can't get that system working, where are we to conduct classes?" Minerva asked, raising an eyebrow.
Hermione smirked. "I realize this will sound like blasphemy but I believe the students would agree with me when I say that the safety of their families is of greater import than any kind of studying."
Lucy and her daughter both smirked at that, knowing very well that their respective study habits had come to them honestly. The Headmistress seemed to be amused as well, and Lucy was suddenly reminded that the two of them were a couple. She'd known Minerva for years and years, and it was somewhat disconcerting to find a woman who'd become a surrogate daughter of sorts was involved with her bloody mother.
Minerva crackled. "Why, Miss Granger," she whispered. "I never thought I'd live to see the day you thought anything was more important than studying."
"Jackie!" Malcolm called to his wife urgently, rushing past them with a small boy in his arms. "Give whoever you have to Irma! You need to take this kid now!"
Any good mood in the air around the two pairs of women vanished in an instant. At a glance, Lucy could tell that the child was covered in blood, presumably his own. He had not been conscious, and her gut lurched at the prospect that he may not make it. He would not be the first to die in recent weeks, and wouldn't be the last. For the time being, the deceased were being kept in stasis charms, locked in the old staff room. When all this was over, people would want to bury their loved ones in family plots. The really horrible fact of the matter was that this nightmare wasn't anywhere near over. It was just beginning.
"I should be down there helping."
Lucy looked over at her daughter, unsurprised by the statement. If she was honest, it was a relief to see her little girl showing willingness to actually get involved in this. So much of her was invested in her own work that she seldom was willing to step away from it for more than a short time. "Do you want to help?" she asked. "And by help, I mean stay and help. I know you're busy but…"
"Since when has Dr. Helen Magnus backed down from an opportunity to help the sick, injured, and helpless?" the other woman replied firmly. "Sanctuary for all, mother. It's not an empty motto. I obviously cannot bring all these people to the Sanctuary but I can bring at least part of it to them."
Lucy smiled, and then glanced back over at her own mother. She took a deep breath and steeled herself to approach the woman she'd spent too many years and too much energy being angry at. It had taken time for her to find peace in the departure of her time traveling mother, but she'd found it eventually. Now, it was time for them to reunite. She turned to Helen. "Shall we begin?"
Yes, the first chapter of Seeking Time will reunite mother and daughter. It's coming! PLEASE REVIEW!