“Arthur, what’s wrong?”, Molly looked at him with deep concern. “You barely said a word since you returned, and you’ve obviously been crying. What happened there?”

He looked at his wife, trying to find adequate words.

“Lyra is as old as Ron. If she were my daughter, she would be one of our youngest children. I always wondered if she and Harry are old and experienced enough to be the heads of the Auror office. After today, I think I can only see her as my senior, someone like Dumbledore or even greater. The question I have is no longer how someone so young can hold such an important office. It’s how a soul so vast can fit in a body so young, frail and pretty. She used a spell on me, you know.” He sighed deeply.

“What kind of a spell?” Molly was instantly alarmed.

“She opened her heart and shared her childhood memories with me. Seeing our children in rags, not being able to afford books and wands, signs of poverty, her crying in frustration after seeing it. The feeling of injustice that pureblood children suffer those humiliations needlessly. Her anger at me for allowing it, for not taking those lucrative promotions and treating my job as an extension of my obsession with all things muggle. It’s nothing I would have thought. It’s not hate, or contempt. She honestly believed pureblood wizards are a precious treasure and should be kings and queens in the world, and she thought her wealth was normal, it was because they are what they are as a family, and then she saw us and it was shocking, it hurt her soul so much to see purebloods living in poverty and it was such an injustice she would cry herself to sleep at nights thinking about it. And I saw her for what she is when she opened herself up to me. She is so vast, so pure, so innocent and so incredibly powerful that I just wept like a child for making such a person cry. It felt like making a perfect God cry.”

Molly just stood their with mouth open and couldn’t find words.

“She also shared some things about you, you know”, he tried for a smile. “She resents you for not allowing the kids to grow up, to be adults, for enabling Ron in his infantile behaviour so that you would have children to care for longer, giving yourself a purpose. Not wanting Bill to marry, thinking no woman could be good enough for him, no woman could replace mommy, and offending Fleur, whom she loves very much and thinks she’s a wonderful, good hearted lady with a bright mind. She showed me her perspective and I saw why Charlie, Bill and Percy, and even Fred and George, ran away from our suffocating atmosphere that attempts to suck their lives away and keep them children forever, and never allow any important issue to be touched because we become defensive and start accusing people of all sorts of things just to keep things as they are. She showed me everything she sees, and everything she feels, and the reasons why she feels it, and her mind is so pure, clean and powerful, it was like somebody expanded my soul a hundred times and I could suddenly grasp all of it. It’s absolutely amazing. I don’t know how a human being can even be that pure and vast. OK, I probably could imagine it if it were Dumbledore, but not a tiny girl who could be my daughter. And the worst thing is, the conclusions she makes are nothing like I would have expected. It’s mostly her own pain, frustration that she can’t make it better, that she can just observe and we don’t even allow her to tell us what she sees. I am in absolute awe of her, Molly”, his eyes glistened with tears and one dropped down his cheek. “And I’m not the only one. Viktor Krum was there and he watched it with his mouth open like you right now, and I could see it in his eyes how amazing he thinks she is. I would have dismissed it as nonsense, thinking that no human being can deserve such worship as the three of them shower her with, but now I think they are right. I used to wonder if she’s good enough for Harry; now I wonder if anyone is good enough for her.”

Molly’s eyes filled with tears. “Was I really trying to keep them from growing up because I wanted to be a mom forever and didn’t know what to do when they grow up and leave?”, she sniffed. “I felt some of that when Ginny threatened to leave and we threw Ron out for being a ghoul.”

“Lyra sees it that way, and honestly, seeing it in her heart it all makes sense and it looks as if I was shown the objective truth of it all after living in my own head with my own justifications for decades. It feels like waking up from a dream and understanding that I’m not the good guy that I thought I was”, he let out a broken sigh. “It all had a quality of God showing me the truth as it is”.

Molly just embraced him and they cried together.

“Arthur, I have to tell you something”, Lyra sighed. “Maybe it’s too late now that all your kids left the nest, or are about to, but I want to get this off my chest. However, I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding between us, and I want to show you what I actually think and feel. Will you allow me to show you?”, she asked him with her clear, open eyes. He gulped and nodded in assent.

She closed her eyes, touched her heart, pointed at his, and whispered. “Cordem Revelio.”

Arthurs eyes spread wide in surprise and shock, then closed, and tears started flowing down his face.

Viktor looked at them with eyes wide, feeling the echoes of the powerful magic, and seeing how she invoked it. He didn’t want to disrupt the sanctity of the moment, but he needed to learn this from her, if it were at all possible to learn.

Arthur was still sobbing, and Viktor wondered what she did to the man. He was old enough to have seen all kinds of things, and something that brought him to tears like that must have been quite something.

“I’m so sorry”, Arthur managed to form words, barely; he took Lyra’s hand and kissed it.

She smiled kindly. “Explain it to Viktor, please; he’s wondering what I did to you and I think it’s something he needs to hear”, she whispered.

Arthur managed to tear his eyes away from her and looked at Viktor. “She showed me how she used to cry from frustration as a little girl, looking at my children wearing rags and hand-me-downs, how Ron had to use someone else’s unsuitable, and later broken wand, because I played with spark plugs and other muggle toys instead of providing for my family properly. She showed me her pain and impotence and rage over my negligence as a father. I know why she didn’t want to tell me, because I would have misconstrued the words. I would never think, in a million years, that it hurt her feelings so deeply and personally to see my children’s poverty. She also showed me how she sees Molly, and her role in Ron’s downfall, by enabling dependency and discouraging independence and adulthood. I felt her enormous mind and heart in pain over all of this and it feels horrible, and I can’t deny that it’s all true, because she showed me her perspective, and it’s so much wider and more perceptive, deeper than mine, it’s amazing. It’s like seeing something from all sides, when you previously saw it only in your head. It’s one thing when her father berated me, because he did it with malice and it was easy for me to dismiss it as pure nastiness of a bad man, but I can’t dismiss her.” He wiped his tears away and took a deep breath to collect himself. “Thank you for showing me this, Lyra”.

She held his hand. “I wanted to show you that I’m not angry at you out of malice. I was angry at you because I couldn’t make you see, and I couldn’t make anything better, and it hurt me. Go now, and give my love to Molly and Ginny. This was hard for me too, and I have to rest now”, she sighed.

…

Hermione and Harry came together from office and saw the two of them sitting there, in deep thought.

“What happened?”, Hermione was slightly alarmed.

“I witnessed Lyra bringing Arthur Weasley to tears by showing him her heart, and I fully understand why you worship her. I used to merely love and admire her, but now I’m just awe-struck”, her husband smiled. “I think I will start calling her my goddess as well, because it feels appropriate”.

“Please don’t”, a tear glistened in Lyra’s eye. “It’s easy enough to get me emotional even without it, pregnancy and all”, she smiled.

Hermione just came to her and embraced her in silence.

“Auror office stands firmly behind their head couple”, Lyra read the headline and smiled. “Now I see why you were late for dinner”, she glowed at Viktor. “Thank you for defending us, that was very sweet of you”.

“It was very much my pleasure”, he smiled back.

It was not just him. His picture was posted prominently at the front page, promising grim consequences to slanderers and traitors, but there were other interviews, with very similar opinions expressed. Normally, Harry would be the head of the Auror department, but since the changes in law that Lyra initiated were in effect, married couples who worked together were considered teams, and as such, the position of the department head was shared between the two of them. This, in effect, doubled the performance of the office and produced such stellar results that everybody kept asking why nobody thought of it before.

“If I accepted half the drinks the guys at the office offered to buy me, they’d have to bring me home in a wheelbarrow”, he laughed. “As it turns out, they already considered transfiguring Ron into a toad, but they concluded this was even better”.

The door bell rang, and she closed her eyes briefly. “Kreacher.” The elf apparated with a crack. “Yes, Young Mistress?”

“Arthur Weasley is at the door. Please let him in”.

“You have to teach me how to do that”, Viktor looked at her pleadingly.

“Of course”, she smiled.

“Oh, there you are”, Arthur greeted them, and looked around. “I like what you did with the place. You kept the tradition and removed the dark stuff. Very cozy”, he nodded approvingly.

“Hello Arthur”, Lyra smiled and approached to greet him. “It’s nice to see you”.

“I have to apologise for Ron’s idiocy”, he looked at her sheepishly. “It was an incredibly nasty thing for him to do, and I honestly don’t even recognize him any more, how dark he’s become. Ginny was so annoyed with him that she threatened to leave the house, and when he started pointing nasty insults at her, Molly and I threw him out of the house”.

“I heard some of it from aunt Andromeda”, Lyra confirmed. “It’s about time he faced some consequences for his actions. He betrayed Harry multiple times before, and broke Hermione’s heart more than once, and some comeuppance was long overdue”, she nodded.

“He tried to move in with George, but George read the article and threatened to spray him with an instant pox powder from his store”, Arthur laughed. “I hear his attempts in other places didn’t go much better”. His eyes fell to Lyra’s forearm and he gasped. “The Dark Mark isn’t there. Not even the faint scar that was left on others. It’s like it didn’t exist at all”.

“Somebody finally noticed”, Lyra smiled. “I had to hide my forearms for the last month in the Manor. It vanished when I gave my wand to Harry and surrendered my only protection. Something changed – I think I felt Dumbledore’s presence and heard a sentence in my mind that I’m the Mistress of Fear now, and I didn’t know that the Dark Mark was gone until I had a shower that evening and looked. I think it had something to do with the Dark Mark being based on fear, and since fear could no longer command me…”, she shrugged. “Had anyone noticed, I would have been in trouble, but fortunately, it was early enough in the year and I could pull off long sleeves.”

“I’m going to kill Ron”, Arthur whispered.

“You should take a number, because there seems to be a line”, Viktor grinned. “Half the country wants to curse him, and the other half didn’t read the Daily Prophet”.

“I wonder if he’ll learn to feed himself now, or just crawl under some rock, be miserable and starve”, Lyra mused.

“That’s his problem now”, Arthur was firm. “He already had a job in the Auror department, immediately after the war, while you were back to school, but he quit after six months because he didn’t like the actual work and responsibility. Molly and I didn’t say anything but we weren’t thrilled either. Now that he made enemies of you and Harry, not to mention the rest of the office, I don’t suppose he’ll be welcome there either.”

“Oh, it would be quite easy for him to find work with his abilities. He would merely have to grow up and face responsibility”, she nodded.

“When that happens, we’ll have to check hell for snowballs”, Viktor laughed.

“Mr. Krum, may I have a moment of your time, please?”

Viktor turned and looked at the weak, soft man who looked like someone who spent too much time practicing confidence in the mirror. “Yes?”

“I’m from the Daily Prophet. Would you please comment on the recent developments regarding Mr. Weasley’s accusations?”

“I can give you a short version or a long version. How much time do you have?”, Viktor smiled acridly.

The man relaxed somewhat. “I would appreciate a proper comment, if you can spare the time”.

“Sure, why not. There’s a Ministry mess hall nearby”, Viktor pointed the way.

Viktor looked at the man across the table as they got seated. “So, the short version is that Ron Weasley is an attention seeking immature twat who lied about his former friends for his five minutes of fame. I read that article of yours. You got the names printed right, but that’s the only correct thing in there. Haven’t you had enough of that? The first time I met Harry, you were writing all sorts of nonsense about him seeking attention by enrolling himself in the Triwizard Tournament and being in love with Hermione Granger. As it turned out, he was enrolled by an undercover Death Eater in order to serve as human sacrifice in a ritual to raise Lord Voldemort from the dead, his life was in constant danger while he was slandered and laughed at, and I found out that Hermione was more like his sister than girlfriend. Interestingly, the same Ron Weasley then also turned on Harry, joining those who mocked him, when Harry needed him the most. Apparently, the more things change the more they stay the same”, he looked at the reporter with an icy glare, as the man tried for an uncomfortable smile.

“We understand that, in fact. We have been getting lots of angry feedback from our readers, very much in line with what you are suggesting. The reason I came to you is because I want to hear the correct version, from someone who knows the facts, and since you actually live with everybody Mr. Weasley slandered, you are ideally positioned to authoritatively refute his statements”, the man slightly recovered from his embarrassment.

“This is true; I do live with them. Maybe it would have been a good idea for you to have come to me before printing that rubbish”, he pointed out. “However, better late than never, I guess. So, what do you want to know?”

“What are they actually like in person? I understand that you might not want to share personal details about the people you live with, but we would appreciate whatever you could give us”, the reporter pleaded.

“I got to know Harry somewhat at the Triwizard Tournament, and I was shocked at how different he was in person from how your newspaper described him. He looked like someone who just tried to survive, and, if possible, save other people along the way. I saw him flying against that Hungarian Horntail. I wish those who slandered him tried to pull off that death dive. Honestly, I would have probably died if I attempted it. I almost died last Sunday when we had our private match in the back country. We both got carried away and would have probably slammed into the ground at hundred miles an hour, with nobody around to patch us up.”

“What did he do?” the reporter looked genuinely curious.

“He used a spell to burn our speed off. At a hundred miles per hour dive. Both hands on the broom. Not being able to breathe due to air speed. No wand.” Viktor looked pointedly at the man.

“No wand? But…” the reporter was confused. “That can’t be”.

“Oh, it can”, Viktor nodded. “I was as shocked as you seem to be, and asked him about it when we apparated back home. He said his wife has been teaching him how to do wandless magic and he no longer needs a wand for most of it. And yes, I realise. When Voldemort, Dumbledore or Grindelwald were disarmed, they were prisoners, not wizards. They could do some wandless magic, but nothing of this magnitude. Lyra killed all the Dementors without a wand. Harry stopped our fatal descent wandlessly while not being able to breathe and almost at the impact point of a miscalculated Wronski feint. I don’t know if you can even comprehend what it feels like to even fly on a broom at that speed. Probably only five Seekers in the world can do it without passing out from the sheer physical strain, slamming into the ground like a meteor and turning into a pink mist”, he looked at the man, making sure he understood the implications. “Harry did wandless magic, and he made it look easy. He didn’t even think it was anything special. After all, Lyra does it all the time when painting my wife’s nails”, he grinned. “Why am I telling you this? Harry is routinely accused of seeking attention, usually by habitual attention-seekers. He’s just a normal, private guy who loves his family and happens to do extremely impressive stuff when a situation requires it. Things like outflying a bad tempered dragon, dismantling Voldemort’s horcruxes, uniting all three Deathly Hallows, saving people by going willingly to die in a dark forest, coming back from the dead, killing Voldemort in a duel, or saving that stupid Ron Weasley’s life when he ingested poisoned whiskey. Selling out your friend for attention by telling outright lies, after all that, is a truly disgusting thing to do and I hold that man in utmost contempt”, he finished.

“Thank you. But what can you tell us about the accusations that his wife is secretly a Death Eater?”

“Lyra became a Death Eater to buy her parents another year of life after they fell from Voldemort’s favour. She was a perfectly innocent girl who happened to be born into a family that foolishly sided with Voldemort, but when they changed their minds later, seeing what Voldemort is actually like and where all that is leading to, it was already too late. She fought for three years to save them, and succeeded. I wouldn’t have lasted three weeks there, and I’m not actually known to be a wimp”, Viktor looked at the reporter with eyes that could bend steel beams. “Lyra is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met, and if anyone has anything bad to say about her, I will personally challenge them to a duel to defend her honour and by Merlin’s beard I swear it won’t end well for them”, he glared.

The reporter gulped. “Mr. Krum, I thank you for your time. I will make sure your words get printed without distortion or omission”, he nodded.

“He miscalculated horribly”, Andromeda smiled at her niece and her husband. “That interview was the stupidest thing he could have possibly done. He forgot he’s no longer in school, and it’s no longer the dark years where the Death Eaters would amplify such nonsense and it would find fertile ground. Half the community saw Harry challenging Voldemort, making him look like a fool and killing him in a duel while Voldemort held the Elder Wand. It’s too early for proper backlash, but I talked to some people and they are furious”, she grinned. “His parents evicted him from their home last night”.

“What?” Harry and Lyra were both shocked. “I thought they would die first and he’d starve in that armchair waiting for mommy to bring lunch”, Hermione joked.

“Well, he obviously forgot that they know things. The actual truth, not rumours they heard somewhere about Harry. Things like Harry saving Arthur’s life, or saving Ron’s life, or training their children to near-Auror level of combat proficiency which made all but Fred survive the most deadly battle in living memory. Not to mention slandering the woman who is publicly accepted as the patron saint of motherhood and who inspired the laws that protect women in general and mothers in particular, and publicly praised his parents before the Wizengamot, while berating her own parents for exposing their only child to mortal peril. Also, Ginny was absolutely furious and made it clear that she can’t wait to move out of the house because she can’t stand him. In the end, it got so heated that Molly and Arthur drew out their wands at him and gave him fifteen minutes to pack and get out. I heard it all from Molly. She’s mortified at his ingratitude and the degree to which he was ready to outright lie and counterfeit history in order to slander his former friends”.

“I expect he’s trying to find a place to live now”, Lyra mused.

“He will find that a harder nut to crack than he expects, since all his school friends owe their lives to Harry, and their mothers all but have house altars dedicated to Lyra”, Andromeda snickered maliciously. “For the first time in his life he will have to own up to his nonsense or learn how to live on his own without either money or a support structure”.

“Idiot”, Viktor mumbled, bringing coffee from the kitchen. “Every single bit of his troubles is self-inflicted”.

“His parents agree”, Andromeda nodded. “He managed to screw up his engagement with Hermione, his friendship with Harry, and instead of getting his life in order he stayed at home, turning into a dark ghoul, annoyed his sister to the point of threatening to leave, and horribly offended his parents with that slanderous interview. They are absolutely mortified and kept calling people to apologise, which is how I heard the story”.

“You know, I thought about him last night – could this have been me? If I didn’t own up to my mistakes and worked to make things better, could I have ended up a miserable, bitter person feeling sorry for myself and blaming everybody else? I mean, my father set me up for failure. He filled my head with the things I repeated and instantly made enemies of all the best people, and then I was surprised when that happened, not understanding what was even wrong with it”, Lyra mused.

“No”, Hermione was adamant. “You were nothing like that. It is true that your father set you up for failure while Ron’s parents set him up for success. He behaved in ways that instantly made him friends with Harry and me. He was insecure, but he was loyal, brave and all that. He had correct political attitudes that he picked up at home. It was no virtue of his own, and your bad mouth was no fault of your own, and yet he reaped the benefits while you suffered the consequences. That part is true. However, you overcame your handicap with courage, dignity, virtue and brains, while he managed to waste all his advantages by slacking, cutting corners, lack of motivation and being an idiot. You went from me having the first impression of you being a spoiled brat and a stupid cow, to me worshipping the ground you walk on. He managed to go from me having a crush on him for years and almost marrying him, to me being so done with him that I never want to see him again or hear his name”, she smiled, and embraced Lyra who was trying very hard to stop the tears from flowing, with little success.