❝ his escape ❞

Laura sits with her head in the palm of her hand and stares out the window like an angsty teenager, wanting desperately to join the Weasley children and Carina playing quidditch in the field behind Potter Manor rather than listen to Molly complain about Bill's and Charlie's dangerous occupations. Remus Lupin, who is usually able to get her out of these situations, is of no help as he continues to converse quietly with Arthur.

"How was Egypt?" Laura changes the topic while Molly pauses her monologue to drink her tea. She loves Molly, but the woman could complain for days if no one stopped her.

The older woman takes the bait and lights up at the mention of her vacation. "It was lovely, dear. What would you like to hear about first?"

The Potters - along with Remus, who moved in years ago to help the single mother - and Weasleys have been close ever since Carina befriended Fred and George in their first year. Despite the occasional rough patches, they all get along almost perfectly and often take turns in hosting holidays and festivities at each other's homes. Their large family is part of the reason Laura remains certain she made the right decision in moving into her childhood home.

When she and James inherited the manor not long after graduating Hogwarts, they chose to table the argument of who would get to live there for another day and instead threw themselves headfirst into the war effort. Laura never truly meant to fight her brother for the home, instead making plans with Sirius to raise their daughter in the cottage they had bought whilst hiding from Death Eaters.

However, after James's death and her fiance's arrest, she found herself hardly able to stand the sight of the once beautiful house. With it now tainted with the broken promises of the life she wanted to build with Sirius, Laura sold it and moved back into the manor.

It's far too large for only two people, but with Remus maintaining a permanent residence and their friends often visiting, it's perfect.

"You should go if you ever get the chance," Molly says, finishing her story about the pyramids. "Not any time soon, of course. It's far too dangerous to be traveling, especially for you and Carina."

"What's that supposed to mean?" All daydreams of quidditch are completely gone as Laura's gaze hardens and all of the other adults immediately grow uncomfortable. "Why shouldn't we be traveling?"

Molly doesn't answer, instead looking to her husband for help who is finding every excuse in the world not to look at them. A timer goes off and Remus is quick to excuse himself from the tense atmosphere in the dining room to get a pie out of the oven. Knowing she can always pry the answers from him later, Laura fixates puppy dog eyes and a pout on Arthur.

"Arthur," she pleads, and she can see his resolve waver the moment they make eye contact. "If something is going to put my daughter in danger, I have a right to know."

Well, it's not exactly a thing," he starts to explain, earning a swift kick from Molly under the table in an attempt to stop him. "It's more of a-"

The doorbell rings and Laura's head nearly drops to the table in frustration as Arthur pulls himself back together and stops talking.

"This conversation isn't over," she declares, pushing herself to her feet.

As she leaves the room, Molly and Arthur share a look, both considering gathering their children and leaving Remus on his own to handle the inevitable meltdown. The older parents love Laura and Carina, but she's not going to take the news lightly.

Laura opens the front door without bothering to check beforehand who it is and is shocked to see the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, standing on her porch.

"My apologies for dropping by without warning," he says before she can ask, stepping to the side to reveal a sheepish Harry Potter. "But this one blew his aunt up to the size of a house and ran away."

"Petunia?"

"No," Harry answers, scuffing his shoes. "Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge."

"Oh," she says, slightly dejected. "That's not as brilliant, but I'm still proud of you."

"Anyways," Cornelius clears his throat, bringing the attention back to him. "He says you were expecting him?"

"Of course! My nephew is always welcome here, as long as he doesn't blow me up."

Harry laughs as Laura ushers him inside, dragging his trunk behind him. The Minister, on the other hand, is doubting his decision to leave the Boy Who Lived in the wild woman's care with each passing second.

"If that's all-"

"It's not." Cornelius reaches his hand out to prevent the front door from closing. "I'd like to speak with you privately, Laura."

She doesn't like the sound of that in the slightest but obliges anyway, telling Harry where he can find his friends before stepping outside completely to hear what the man has to say.

"I assume you know who is on the loose,"

Laura gasps, the color draining from her face at his words. "Voldemort is back?"

"What? No!" He quickly reassures her, though he's not entirely comfortable with her saying the forbidden name. "He's dead."

"Then no," she says, recovering from the heart attack he nearly caused. "I don't know who you're referring to."

"Have you not read the Daily Prophet?"

"Not since they accused me of aiding in my brother's death."

"Surely you've seen the wanted posters everywhere? Or at least heard people talking about it?"

"Remus usually does the grocery shopping and I don't work in the summers so I can spend time with my daughter. I'm not exactly up to date on all the gossip."

Cornelius takes a deep breath, procrastinating in the hopes that someone will appear and break the news for him. The silence stretches between them as he regrets even bringing it up and Laura begins to tap her foot as she grows annoyed. Despite being the Minister, he's always had trouble relaying bad news.

Unable to put it off any longer, he reaches into his suit pocket and pulls out one of the posters he had mentioned, handing it to Laura before he can change his mind and leave. Laura unfolds it impatiently and immediately wishes she hadn't seen it at all.

Staring back at her is the face of a screaming man, one who is deranged and clearly eager to get back at the horrid world. She doesn't want to believe it, but there is no mistaking him for anyone else. The love of her life, whom she hasn't had any contact with in twelve long years, has escaped Azkaban.

"You were the first person the other Aurors, and most of the Ministry, suspected of assisting in his breakout," Cornelius explains, taking a step back as he watches the stages of grief play out across her face. "But I'll make it known you had nothing to do with it."

Laura hardly hears him, her mind already a million miles away. Shutting the door in his face, all of her shock and sadness wells up into an untapped anger she hasn't felt in years.

The seven kids, who had been lounging in the living room to cool down from their games, take one look at Laura's furious expression as she passes by and scramble over each other to get back outside. None of them want to be on the other end of her infamous wrath and they simultaneously pity whoever she's about to take it out on.

"What. The. Hell!" She shrieks, storming back towards the dining room. "Remus John Lupin!"

"I can explain-"

"Were none of you going to tell me?" Laura cuts him off, slamming the crumpled poster down on the table. "When did it happen?"

"Two weeks ago," Arthur answers and if she wasn't so swept up in her anger, Laura would thank the man for being the only one that's at least attempted to be honest with her today.

"We didn't want you to worry," Molly adds. "He would never hurt you or Carina."

"Of course he wouldn't," Laura agrees, now confused as to what they're trying to imply. "Because he's never hurt anyone!"

"Laura," Remus sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as a headache starts to form. "I thought we were past this argument."

"Clearly we're not," she all but cries. "Because I still don't understand what kind of a person can genuinely think their best friend is capable of murder!"

"He was their Secret Keeper!" Remus snaps, his voice finally raising above his usual calm nature as he pushes himself to his feet. "How else can you explain it?"

"We don't know what happened that night!"

"We have as much of the story as we're ever going to get," he counters, regretting shouting as she steps back from his attempted embrace with a glare. "You know as well as I do who is to blame. Now more than ever is the time to accept it."

"I won't," Laura argues, wiping at the tears that are beginning to fall. "Not when I still love him, Moony."