Gods Give Another Chance

Chapter 26

Harriet

The next school year is filled with tension. Nothing spectacular happens but the air remains tense as if even Hogwarts herself was waiting on something to happen. The bag checks and a push to learn dueling was proof of how bad it had actually gotten. I was glad if we were attacked, we would have trained help with all the aurors walking the halls, but it didn't make me feel better. Children would still get stuck fighting. The train ride home is even worse. Many families had emergency portkeys made for their children and seventh years who could apparate were assigned younger years who didn't have such protection. Families rushing to remove their kids from the platform out of fear there would be an attack. We had chosen to head home alone, not wanting to risk any of our family coming out.

"You will receive a letter this summer, understand Fate has done this for a reason." Luna tells us. Jasper glares and pulls her close.

"Come on Moon, don't do this." He says and I feel my body begin to shake.

"Luna please tell me this isn't about you." I whisper.

"I am happy to call you all family." She smiles and kisses Jasper before walking over to her dad.

"Fuck!" Jasper curses watching her leave.

"Luna is smart, we have to trust that she will be ok." I say but even I am terrified.

"I can't lose her." He admits looking defeated. Leo grabs him and starts talking in a low tone. I spot Rabastan and walk over to him.

"Just a heads up, if he gets a letter this summer you have to stop him from doing something stupid. Luna just told him that Fate had a plan and I think it involves her." I tell him.

"Thank you for the heads up. I won't allow him to run off, but this will destroy him if she is hurt." He says looking at his son.

"If you need us just let us know." He nods but says nothing else as Jasper walks over and gives me a quick hug before leaving. We had agreed to stay behind to make sure everyone was safe. I push it to the back of my mind as I help students find their families.

"Ms. Potter you should be home." Lady Longbottom tells me.

"I know ma'am, but I want to make sure the younger years are safe. Me and Leo have portkeys to travel home." I explain.

"A group of death eaters were picked up today. Hopefully we can get closer to the end of this." She informs us before her and Neville leave. At least we got some good news today.

Once the last child leaves, we use our portkeys to arrive home. I am immediately pulled into a crushing hug.

"Pronglet, I missed you." Sirius says and I smile.

"Missed you too uncle Pads." I pull away and hug Remus before saying hi to the twins.

"Do I get a hug?" I ask Rigel, Sirius had told me he was still unsure about physical contact, but he was slowly coming to trust we wouldn't hurt him. He hugs me and I don't squeeze him like I did the others, but I do hug him back, not taking offence to the slight tense.

"How was school?" He asks.

"It was a good year, but I am happy to be home."

"How is your training going?" Leo asks coming over to me. While he didn't have the control over his magic like we did at that age they were still teaching him to direct his magic. He just shrugs and Sirius chuckles.

"He was able to throw a rock across the room on purpose and call it back. He is extremely talented." He praises.

"I want to be able to do magic like you two." He admits looking slightly upset.

"And you will one day but we are older. Once you have a wand it will be easier. How about this summer I teach you some defense moves. This way you can physically fight and push your magic into your punches. It is less of a strain and the physical workout will help with your magic too." Leo offers bending down to his level. Rigel's eyes widen before a beaming smile breaks out.

"Really? Yes! I would love that!" I don't think I have ever heard him so excited. Leo chuckles and stands as he is almost dragged away to the training room.

"I am glad to see him so excited, but I don't know how I feel about it being because of violence." Sirius sighs.

"He hears the whispers of war. I know at his age if I had found a family that loved me, I would have been terrified to lose them and wanted to do whatever I could to help make sure they were safe." I say.

"She has a point, while we try not to talk about it with him around, he knows." Regulus says. I walk over and take Scorpio who is reaching out for me.

"You're right, I felt the same way with my friends when the first war started but he is still so young. He shouldn't have to worry." Remus sighs.

"I heard from Lady Longbottom they rounded up some death eaters. Hopefully they will get some information from them." I say.

"I heard of that." Barty says.

"All we can do is hope. The tension can't stay like this for long." Regulus adds, and I nod, dreading when it did finally snap.

Leo

Rigel is a natural when it comes to physical combat. I have a moment when I swear, I am looking at a younger version of myself. After a few weeks I ask Sirius if I can add a dagger to his training. His magic wasn't strong enough yet to truly defend himself and he knew it. Sirius was nervous but agreed. Watching the way, he learns to wield a dagger as if it has always been part of him has me proud, but it makes me miss my own daggers. I didn't want to fall back into that but as the tension rises, I find it harder to avoid. No matter what I told myself I was a killer at heart, and I felt like I was letting people down by not taking him out.

"Leo if it works with one dagger what about two?" He asks when I call for a break.

"Two is fine but one day you will also have a wand. That is why we work with learning to use our opposite hand. You will need your wand arm for your wand." I explain.

"But I don't have a wand right now." He points out and I chuckle.

"No, you don't but the more you practice the more your body will naturally do the moves. If you learn with two daggers then when you are older it will make it second nature to reach for the daggers instead of your wand. While this training can help, you really want to avoid fighting up close."

"Uncle Reg and Uncle B can't do this, so why can you?" I stop at the question. Memories of my own training hits me.

"Same with how I can control the elements, but my parents couldn't. Some people are born with gifts." Harriet says coming over to us.

"Do I have a special gift?" He asks.

"I don't know, but regardless if you do or don't, you are still special to us. You don't need special magic to change the world." Harriet says smiling. He thinks about it for a moment before nodding.

"Want to watch me practice?" He asks her and she nods before stepping out of the ring.

We go over our basic routine. As we are finishing up an owl arrives, and Harriet goes and retrieves the letter. When she turns to me nervous, I call the practice and send Rigel to go play. Once alone I walk over and take the letter from her, opening it. My eyes fly over the words and my anger rises.

"She can't be serious." I growl.

"Luna knew this was coming. I have to believe she will be ok." Harriet says but I see the fear in her eyes.

"We need to check on Jasper." She nods and we head in search of the adults to inform them what is going on.