Chapter 24 No! Not Her!

Hydrus came to tied to a comfy, colorful, tacky chair. Ropes bound his arms, legs and neck to the appendages of the chair. His hands were stuck palms down on the arms of the chair, so he couldn't use his wandless magic to call anything to him. Whoever did this was very smart.

Moving his eyes around the room he noted that it was a small, white room with no windows. There was one other chair in front of him and a table with some bizarre devices on it, lined up like a surgery tray. His head was killing him and he eyes were a bit blurry from the pain.

"Not, Narcissa then. She would never own such a chair. Merlin, what hit me?" he groaned, trying to shake the cobwebs from his head. He took some deep breaths and willed the ache away. He needed his wits about him if he was going to get out of here.

Wiggling in his bonds he found them to be very constricting. His wands were in his pocketspace, and Hydrus thanked Merlin only he could call them. He tried his port-key but nothing happened. Looking down at his wrist he saw it was there, so there must be wards. Since no spells were cast and he didn't die, it didn't port him away. A mistake on his part.

He tried to call Tippy, but there must be wards up for house elves as well. He didn't even know there were such protections. He'd have to look into that when he got out of this mess.

He had no idea how much time had passed, the ropes covered his watch. He tried to topple over the chair but it was stuck to the floor. He made attempt after attempt to get free, but to no avail. Struggling only tightened the bonds and without the use of his hands, he couldn't call anything to him. He thought about emptying his entire pocketspace, but he would get buried in the rubble. He was well and truly stuck.

He wondered how long he'd been out and if anyone was looking for him. Knowing he couldn't be killed and hoping none of his family was there. He set about trying to meditate, going over all the clues and women he knew with light blonde hair.

Hours passed and he was hungry, thirsty and needed the loo. He called out, "Hello, is anyone there?" Of course there was no answer. He tried to get his hands free again, but to no gain. He wondered if this person was going to let him starve to death, or die of dehydration. That won't be fun.

More hours passed and the immortal started to get tired. His head started to droop and his eyelids were heavy. You would think the stress of being captured would keep him awake, but he was only tired, maybe he was concussed. Finally, unable to keep his eyes open, he nodded off.

When he woke again, his bladder was empty, his mouth moist and his stomach was full. He came to the conclusion that whoever this was, was monitoring him and spelled him like a coma patient. Was she a nurse? The only nurse he knows was Nurse Sparks, who was the one who kept a lookout for battered squibs, but she was a brunette.

Now that he was awake he went over the clues again. Someone who might have died in his timeline, but didn't in this one. Someone who was very smart. Someone who could be affected by one or more of his business ventures. Someone who was at the very least a Grey magical, they had to be to throw the Killing Curse. Someone who could pull off great feats of magic. A blonde. A woman. But who?

Over and over these clues ran through his mind. Hydrus didn't consider himself a stupid person, but for the life of him he could not figure out who this enemy might be, or at the very least the two people he thought of he dismissed.

Narcissa wouldn't sully herself to hitting him on the head the non-magical way. Though, she would hire someone. That and she'd lose her magic, so, no, not Mrs. Malfoy.

The other he almost dismissed out of hand. Pandora Lovegood. She was smart, blonde, and powerful and at least one of his enterprises would have affected her and her family. The Times. Having a factual paper presented to the public had caused the subscription to the Quibbler to fall. But she was depicted as a nice, kind woman. Then again, what family would portray their lost loved one as anything but good? Merlin he hoped it wasn't her. If it was he hoped he could talk her out of whatever she had planned for him.

It could be someone using a glamor or Polyjuice, which was a very good possibility.

After what seemed like days, but was only hours, the door finally opened and in walked Pandora Lovegood. She was a wisp of a woman with long blonde hair and large blue-grey eyes. She reminded him of his Luna.

"Merlin, I had hoped it wasn't you," Hydrus said in defeat. His shoulders slumping and sadness filled his eyes.

"I'm surprised you figured it out," Pandora said in the Lovegood dreamy voice.

"Why? What could I have possibly done to you?" a hint of desperation filled his voice.

"I'm a spell-crafter, did you know?" she asked vaguely as she took the chair in front of him.

"And a very good one, if I remember correctly, but what does that have to do with me?" he looked into her blue-grey eyes.

"One of my lifelong dreams was to get electronics to work in the magical world. I love Muggles, did you know? Not like Arthur, no, I think they've done wonderful things and I wanted to share those things with everyone. I have been working on this problem for years. Then you came along and opened those stores and presto, no more need for Pandora Lovegood," she said with a malicious tone. She picked up one of the items on the tray and fingered it for a minute. She looked to the man and then at the piece and back again. "I'm not a violent person by nature," she said. "But my life changed so much when you appeared out of nowhere." She took the device and placed it on his chest.

Hydrus screamed at the sensation of something grabbing his heart and squeezing. It lasted about a minute then stopped. He panted and looked at her face, which was examining him like a strange bug.

"Mrs. Lovegood, don't do this," he pleaded. "I know you're a good person. Don't turn to this."

She sighed and put the device down. "I am a kind person. I don't like inflicting pain, but you have something I want and I don't think you'll just give them up. That should have killed you and not painfully…" her words faded as if she was going over how the instrument went wrong. She glanced to the others on the table with a calculating look.

"Why didn't you go after Frostwell? He is as good as I am. Not that I want you to go after him, but why did you choose me?" he quickly thought of something to distract her.

"Frostwell is good," she conceded, turning her attention to him, "and he was the next to go, after I disposed of you. I did send him a few messages. However, you were the bigger target. At first I was going to just move on, then you started The Times, and our paper started floundering, money got tighter. My daughter couldn't get the things she wanted."

"Think of your daughter for a moment, how would she feel right now?" Hydrus tried to reason.

"I was going to start other spells," Pandora said, ignoring the tied up man in front of her, "but without the money from the paper I had no research funds. I had to quit my spell-crafting and start reporting for the Quibbler, which had me spending more time in Diagon Alley, looking for stories that would boost sales. Did you know there are many creatures hidden in the shadows of dark spaces in magical communities?" Pandora asked in her airy voice, and then she got more comfortable in her chair, adjusted her skirts and stared straight into his eyes. "I thought, if I killed you then your stores would close and I could start my research over and take up where you left off. But, you didn't die. And I knew you were immortal."

"My stores were left to other people; they wouldn't have folded if I died. Were you just going to keep killing until we all were dead?" he asked, praying that wasn't the case.

She waved the question away and continued her spiel. "When I destroyed your toys I had hoped that the Pure-blood bigots would rise against you. They didn't. Idiots. Mrs. Greengrass was so upset about losing her son. She came to the Quibbler hoping we would run a story to discredit you, but Xeno wouldn't touch it. I convinced her to send the howler, told her I'd deliver it and spelled your toys. It was easy to wipe me from her mind."

"Why would you think that? Barkley's is helpful; the Pure-bloods wouldn't have the power to close it. And if they did all those kids would be out on the street." The immortal tried again to appeal to her motherly nature. He knew from his talks with his Luna that this woman was a good mother who loved children. If he could get her to stop thinking of revenge and start thinking of her family then maybe he could get her to let him go.

"That is not what I wanted. I was hoping they would throw you in prison for going against tradition."

"That doesn't make sense," Hydrus said, shaking his head as much as he could. "They are a minority now. The war saw to that."

At that the blonde got thoughtful and nodded. She went on, "When I sent you the message in the tea leaves, you acted almost as I had hoped. I was hoping to shame you to the public; they would think you were crazy and stop shopping in your stores. You held it together, but you did run, albeit slowly. When I saw you put on the Invisibility Cloak then I knew you were the Master of Death and my plans changed. Oh, I still wanted people to think you were crazy, but now I had to get my hands on the Deathly Hallows. My husband has studied them for years. They are the most powerful tools in the entire magical world. I don't want to control Death; however, I need a powerful wand to further my experiments. Now I want them. If I can live forever I can finally make my family proud of me."

"Your family is proud. Sirius told me about Luna and she has nothing but wonderful things to say about you," he said hurriedly. "You could've asked at any time and I would've been happy to have you on board," Hydrus all but pleaded with the woman sitting in front of him. He was no longer scared for himself he could only think of little Luna and how she could be effected. "You still can. We can forget all of this and work together to make the magical world a wonderful place for our children."

"And give up tools like the Hallows," she laughed at the thought.

"Please, Mrs. Lovegood, think of Luna and your husband. Don't do this to them," he begged. "Even if I wanted to I can't give you the Hallows they are bonded to me for all time. Please, I beg you, stop this madness."

"You lie," she spat, getting up from her chair and started pacing. "You have to be, they are the only way I can achieve my goals. No, give me the Hallows and I'll prove you are lying." She whirled around and glared at him, then grabbed a random device off the tray and threw it at him.

He fell to darkness and awoke minutes later, still tied to the chair.

"Why won't you die?" Pandora asked, picking up something else. "These are my most powerful inventions, not even your being the Master of Death should prevent them from working. I made them during the war, to protect my family. They have to work." You could see the desperation in her face as she threw the device.

Over and over again she pelted her inventions at him, and over and over again he was either in pain or died and came back. What she was hoping to achieve he didn't know, she knew he couldn't die. He could see the confusion and frustration reflected in her eyes. She wasn't thinking clearly, that was obvious.

On the fifth time he awoke, he saw her picking up another object and shouted, "Wait! I'll prove it to you, release my right hand and arm and I'll call them up. When you have them all you can try and use them, but they will not work for you, I promise," he said once more sagging in defeated. She's cracked. There was nothing he could say right now to make her see what she was doing was wrong. However, he didn't want to have to hurt her. He was quickly thinking up ways to get out of this without bloodshed.

Pandora moved to the chair, unstuck his hand and untied his arm. The whole time her wand was in her other hand aiming for his manhood. He didn't try and break free; he only called up the Hallows, one at a time, and handed them to her. The victorious smile on her face morphed to anger when the Elder Wand didn't so much as give off a spark. She tried to call her dead mother, but the Resurrection Stone simply lay in her hand. The only Hallow that worked was the Invisibility Cloak, and even it didn't give her a sense of power.

In her anger she threw them to the wall. "NO!" she cried. "It can't be. I need to be the owner of these tools." She paced around the room again, muttering to herself.

Hydrus used her distraction and called the Hallows back. He used the wand and turned her into a flower vase. Putting the Stone away, he then rid himself of the ropes, gently placed her in his pocketspace, donned the Cloak and cautiously made his way to the door. Opening it, he glanced around the hall it led to. It appeared he was in a deserted office building.

Making his way out of the building and looking around, he discovered he was at the Quibbler's office in Diagon Alley. Trudging to the Apparation point, with a turning of his body, he went home. He popped to the kitchen hoping not to startle anyone and made his way to where he hoped the men were.

It was night time and only the adults were awake, though little Harry was asleep in Sirius's arms. He dropped heavily on the sofa, put his face in his hands and groaned. He still ached from all those deaths.

"Merlin, where have you been? You disappeared two days ago," Sirius asked as quietly as he could. "Harry has been worried sick; we only just got him to sleep. Grace had been calling all night. You were supposed to meet her yesterday."

"Are you alright, Hydrus?" Remus asked, seeing the man was in pain.

"Has it been two days? Damn, I was out longer than I thought; she must have hit me pretty hard. Yeah, I'm okay," Hydrus said, running a hand down his face. He looked at his watch and saw it was eleven in the evening. Too late to call Grace, he'd call her in the morning if she didn't call first. "Tippy," he called

"Master Hydrus is home, what can Tippy be doing for yous?" the excited house elf exclaimed. She had been worried about not being able to find him.

"I need a pain relief potion, please," the immortal asked.

She nodded her head popped away and brought one back in seconds.

"Thanks, Tippy. Go ahead to bed now," he said softly, then downed the potion. The house elf nodded and disappeared. "Let's wake Harry up and get him to bed and I'll tell you what happened."

Seeing Hydrus relax from the brew Sirius gently shook the child in his arms and said, "Harry, Harry, wake up, look who's home."

Harry slowly woke up and groggily turned to Hydrus. "Uncle Hydrus!" he yelled, now wide awake, scrambled off his godfather's lap and on to his favorite uncle's. "Why didn't you come home?" he asked, his eyes watering.

"I got busy with something," the immortal said vaguely as he hugged his younger self to his chest. "I'm sorry I worried you, but I'm home now and all safe." He ran his hand through the boy's hair in a soothing manner.

"You should've called," the young boy chastised, trying not to show his worry, because big boys don't cry.

"If I could've, I would've," Hydrus said in a kind voice, "but there was no phone where I was." Still running his hand over that ever-messy hair.

"Oh," Harry said, his eyes started to close. He was so tired and now that he knew his uncle was home he was going to go to sleep. "Don't do that again." He patted his hand on that broad chest and started to nod off.

"You need to go to bed, and I'll see you in the morning. I'm not going anywhere tonight," the oldest uncle promised, giving the boy one more big hug and setting him down.

The tired little boy started to the staircase and everyone called their good-nights. When the door to Harry's room closed the other two men turned to Hydrus. The immortal put up a silencing charm, knowing how they were going to react.

"Okay, tell us what happened. We looked all over the Alley for you, even parts of Knockturn. If you didn't show up by tomorrow Mr. Jasper was going to the DMLE and report you missing," Sirius said with worry in his voice. "That and you look like shite."

"I was kidnapped," he said with a heavy sigh, "by Pandora Lovegood."

"What!?" both men shouted, leaning forward in their chairs, looks of disbelief on their faces. If it wasn't so serious, he would have laughed at them doing the same thing at the same time.

"I was as shocked as you are, but it's true." He told them of what had occurred the last few of hours. "I have her in my pocketspace, but I have no idea what to do with her. She's completely cracked. She blames me for taking her glory on getting electronics to work and almost losing the Quibbler," he explained, running his hand down his face and then pulling his hair in frustration.

"No, I met her… she's the kindest woman I've ever known," Sirius shook his head in denial. The woman he met, the few times he went to pick up Luna, was the sweetest, gentlest woman he ever laid eyes on. There is no way she would try and kill someone.

"Padfoot," Hydrus said sadly, his eyes full of remorse, "I swear, I'm telling you the truth. I need your help in figuring out what to do with her. Her family will know she's gone soon and the last thing I want is to hurt them or her." He was letting his feeling for his Luna cloud his judgement, he knew this, but couldn't seem to hate the woman who tortured him. Unlike Umbridge and Skeeter, this woman was a product of his improvements, he was sure that had he not made the changes she would never have gone over the edge. No, he couldn't hate her.

"Maybe you could talk to Xeno," Remus offered. "Let him know what she did and he could possible get her help."

"I'm not sure that will work," the time traveler said with a shake of his head. "I remember him from my timeline. I don't think there is anything I could say that would make him think his wonderful wife has cracked."

Xeno Lovegood would do anything to protect his family, even turn the then Harry and his friends over to the snatchers. Hydrus remembered the overly fond look in the man's eyes when he talked of his deceased wife. Well, if Hydrus worded it right and showed him the proof, maybe it would work. Xeno was just as smart as his wife, though a bit more enthusiastic on things, but intelligent nonetheless.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "she's what holds that family firmly to the ground. If they lose their anchor who knows what will happen." Recalling the way little Luna would speak of her mother. The tales she would tell portrayed a woman who kept her family firmly in reality.

"Well, they did okay in my timeline, if a little more quirky than before she died," Hydrus rebutted with a fond smile at the memories.

"That was before they found the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," the dogman said, still trying to come to terms with what was happening. "Finding that creature might have saved their paper, but now they are going to try harder to find more. She might be what's keeping them from spending all their time and money doing that. She is a very smart woman and highly protective of her family."

"You may be right," he conceded.

"So, back to the subject, what do we do with Mrs. Lovegood?" Remus asked.

"I could try and wipe her memories of me and the Deathly Hallows," Hydrus said thoughtfully, it was not something he wanted to do, but if it helped keep that family together, then maybe it was the only way.

"I do not think that will work. She is smart enough to figure it out again, and there will be nothing stopping her from terrorizing you again," was the werewolf's argument.

"Well, I can't bloody well leave her as a flower vase in my pocketspace," Hydrus all but yelled, the situation finally catching up to him.

"Can we get her treatment? Get her to St. Mungo's, Janus Thickey Ward? They might be able to help her," Sirius asked, trying to calm the immortal down.

"If we do that the Prophet will have a field day. They'll tear down the Lovegoods and start posting about me being immortal. Then I'll have all sorts of people trying to kill me," the immortal argued. Last thing he needed was more nutters trying to do him in.

"Maybe we can combine the three, wipe her memory of the Master of Death thing, but let her keep her anger at you, well, maybe lessen it. Implant the memory of you telling them about how to save their paper. Take her to her husband and show him the room she kept you in and prove to him that she was trying to kill you. Let him know about the note. Then maybe he'll get her some help," Remus said, thinking of all the pros and cons of that plan.

"That might still cause public ridicule of the Lovegoods," Hydrus said, thinking over ways to prevent that.

"Not really, there is nothing to say anyone has to know she's there," debated Sirius. "It's not like she's a public figure. To most people she's just a housewife, and not newsworthy."

"You may be right, I'll try and talk to Xeno tomorrow," Hydrus said, thinking over what he would tell the man and how he would present his wife to him. Hydrus dared not show the Deathly Hallows to Mr. Lovegood, for fear he would react the same as his wife. Still wiping her memories seemed like the logical solution. The phone interrupted his thoughts. He reached over and snagged the receiver. "Hello."

"Oh, Hydrus," a semi-hysterical voice of his beloved said. "Where have you been? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"Grace," he stopped her questioning. "I'm fine, everything is okay now. Well, almost okay, but I'm safe."

"Can you come over? I really need to see you," she asked softly.

"I promised Harry I wouldn't go anywhere tonight. However, I can get Sirius to go and get you and bring you here," he offered.

"Give me twenty minutes and I'll be ready," Grace said quickly and hung up the phone.

"Guess she's in a hurry," Hydrus mumbled. "Sirius, will you go and pick up Grace in twenty minutes or so?" he asked the younger Black.

"Yeah," was the only answer. The poor man still looked like he had been hit with a fish.

"Here," Hydrus said, scribbling on a piece of paper. "She needs to know the secret."

"You trust her enough?" Remus asked, not even their girlfriends knew the secret.

"She has no ties with the magical world, now that she doesn't work for the Grangers, I'm pretty sure it'll be okay," the immortal waved it away. Right now he needed his love to help combat the nightmares he was going to have tonight. He handed the paper to Sirius, who was coming out of his shock. "Besides, Dumbledore is the least of my worries, he is chasing rainbows." He then told them about his talk with the Headmaster, hoping to lighten the atmosphere. It worked. They all had a quiet chuckle.

Sirius went and got Grace, they had to pop outside the wards, so she'd see the house after reading the paper. When they got to the doors, Hydrus was waiting for her. She dropped her overnight bag and flew to his arms. The immortal took her to his room and the two lovers stayed up most of the night consoling each other. He was right; she kept the nightmares at bay. Most would say there was nothing special about his love, but to him she was the anchor that kept his feet firmly on the ground, with her kind and understanding disposition.

It was a tired family, plus one, that made it to breakfast the next morning. Hydrus decided on cold cereal and fruit for this morning's meal.

"How is everyone?" Grace asked in a chipper voice as she walked by the seated Harry and ruffled his hair.

"We had a bit of bad news last night," Remus answered. "I do not think any of us slept well." He ran his hand through his hair.

"I had bad dreams," chimed in Harry, who was chasing his cereal around his bowl. "I dreamed that Uncle Hydrus never came home."

"Oh, Prongslet, why didn't you wake me or your other uncles?" Hydrus asked, getting up and going to the child. He then picked him up, settled him on his hip and kissed the top of that dark hair.

"I was going to, but I got to your door and heard you talking to Grace, and I didn't want to disturb you," Harry said, putting his head on his uncle's shoulder.

"Unless the door is locked, which it wasn't, you can get me anytime, as long as you knock first. If my door is locked go to Padfoot or Moony. Okay?" he lifted the boy's chin and looked him in the eye.

"Okay."

Hydrus put the child back down and went to resume his breakfast. Slowly the tension faded and they finished their meal and vacated to the living room, Grace sitting next to Hydrus. Harry, not wanting to be left out, decided to play with his handheld next to Grace. They talked of simple business matters and soon everyone left for their own daily plans. Sirius stayed home, since he didn't have a nine-to-five job. Grace had to leave to get to class and Hydrus took her home, making plans to see her that night. The immortal popped back to the house, set Harry up with some schoolwork and warded himself in his room. He wanted to try and reason with Pandora one more time.

He pulled the flower vase out of his pocketspace and returned Pandora to herself, quickly roping her to the chair making sure she couldn't use her hands. He settled on his bed facing her. "Mrs. Lovegood, I am so sorry it has come to this," he said sadly.

A look of fear came across her face, as if it just dawned on her that her life might be in peril. "Are you going to kill me?" she whispered.

"No," he said softly, "not if I can help it. I truly do care for your family and I'll not see them hurt if I can prevent it. But Mrs. Lovegood, you can't keep the memories of me being the Master of Death. I will also need you to swear a vow that you will never try and kill anyone again, unless they are directly trying to hurt your family." he prayed she would take him up on this offer, not wanting to take huge parts of her memories.

"I'm not sure I can do that," she said with a bit more steel to her voice.

"I don't think you have a choice," the immortal said firmly.

"Tell me why? Why did you take my life's dream?" she demanded, with tears in her blue-grey eyes.

"I had no idea what you were working on," Hydrus said with a shake of his head. "If I had I would've invited you to join me. I didn't start my businesses for power. I did it to help the magical world progress."

"And The Times? Why start a newspaper if not to drum out the other publications?" she snapped, all fear gone now.

"The only paper I wanted to 'drum out' was the Daily Prophet. The Quibbler was never to have been effected. I thought it would weather the storm. It always has in the past." He shrugged.

"So you never even thought of the damage you would do to others. You're just a stupid man plowing ahead without thinking of the consequences," her shoulders sagged in defeat.

"I will help your family in any way I can, if you take the vow," he offered, glad to see he was getting through to her.

"But, you're still going to wipe my memories?" she accused.

"You left me with no choice. You killed me many times, that will plague you and you will try again. No, those memories have to go. I'm going to talk to your husband about getting you help. Actually, let's make that part of the vow," he said, running his hand over his chin in thought.

Ten minutes of uncomfortable silence went by as Pandora tried to see her way out of her predicament. Hydrus just waited to see what she decided. While he did have qualms about it, if he had to he would wipe himself completely from her mind and suggest to Xeno that it might be time to relocate. After all, it worked for Hermione and she didn't have the Elder Wand.

"No, I won't take your stupid vow; I'm not risking my magic to satisfy your needs. I will figure out a way to get the Hallows. There is nothing you can do to stop me," she finally said, firming her face and looking him dead in the eyes.

The immortal gave a heavy sigh and called up the Elder Wand. "I didn't want to do this," he said and then turned the wand to her head and stated in a clear voice, "Legilimens." He sorted through all her memories of him, the spells she did to terrorize him and Frostwell, and what he had to do with the Deathly Hallows.

He then turned the wand again and said, "Obliviate." Taking every one of the recollections and planting the suggestion that she gave up her spell-crafting peacefully to help the struggling Quibbler. He used the memories of her starting the new spells and built on that, so when she got back into spell-crafting that's what she'd work on.

"Stupify." She sagged in her bonds. Sighing once again, he turned her into the flower vase and put her back in his space.

He left the room with a heavy heart, put on a happy face and went to spend time with Harry. After correcting the schoolwork the two spent time flying, but soon enough it was time for him to face Xeno. Or maybe he could say he found her wandering the street near his house. No, that was the coward's way.

Undecided on how he would tell his tale, he figured he would just go with the flow and made his way to the Quibbler. Asking at the front desk he was pointed to the man's office. Knocking on the door frame to alert the harried looking man, he announced his presence. "Mr. Lovegood?" he asked. When the man looked up he said, "We have to talk."

"Is it important? My wife is missing and I have to find her. She hasn't been well for some time and I fear what she will do," Xeno said as he looked back at the papers on his desk for clues as to where his beloved would be.

"You knew?" the shocked immortal asked, sitting heavily in the chair in front of the desk.

Xeno's head snapped up at that question. "I knew what?" he demanded.

"That your wife had snapped?" Hydrus said curiously with what he hoped was a kind voice.

"I knew she was upset about her spell-crafting, and I knew she was plotting revenge, though I don't know on whom," the editor confessed with a very contrite look on his face. "Now that you are here, I assume it was you." His shoulders dropped and his mind raced on what his wife could have done to this man.

"It was," the time traveler confirmed. "She kidnapped me two days ago and held me in a room in this very building. I swear she's fine; I have her in a safe place. The problem is; how are we going to get her help so she doesn't come after me again? I've already taken her memories of me from her mind, but it was pointed out that she is a very smart lady and might put it all together again." He gave the man a wary look, not sure how he would react to meddling with Pandora's mind.

Xeno's face contorted into a mask of anger, he sat up straighter and glared at the immortal. "Are you even qualified enough to mess with the Obliviating spell?" he asked heatedly, knowing that an unqualified person could do great damage to his wife's intelligence.

"I am," was the succinct answer as Hydrus pulled his license out and showed to him. It was real, just not the dates. One of the few times he went to the Ministry as Hydrus Black in his timeline, it was part of the self-study he did on Aurors and Hit-wizards.

At that the blond man's shoulders sagged again. "She is okay? You didn't hurt her?"

"I never laid a finger on her, and after the torture she put me through I could have killed her and it would have been self-defense," Hydrus said calmly, yet firmly. He had to make it clear that the woman had done him wrong.

"Why would she torture you? My wife is a non-violent person," Mr. Lovegood said defensively, without much heat. He knew of the inventions Pandora cooked up during the war.

"She blames me for ruining her career in spell-crafting, that and she somehow got the notion that I hold the Deathly Hallows," he said, and pulled a regular invisibility cloak from his pocketspace and handed it to the distraught man. "She saw me use this and jumped to conclusions, I think her anger got the better of her reasoning." He also pulled his holly wand to show it wasn't the Elder Wand. "Nothing I could say seemed to convince her that I am not the Master of Death."

Xeno examined the cloak and noted that it was indeed just a plain invisibility cloak. He handed it back and demanded, "Where is my wife?"

"Safe. I don't want her to hurt herself or others. I just want your family to prosper and be happy," the immortal said softly.

"Why? You don't even know us," the confused man asked, leaning on his desk.

"I've read your paper, and heard stories about you and your family's brilliance. I only want to make up for the bad times my businesses have caused you, albeit unintentionally."

"What do you think we should do?" Mr. Lovegood asked, ready to do anything to help get back his wife.

"Move. Go study the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Publish your paper in France. I have it on good authority that it will thrive there, if you don't pick on the government. Goblins are open season though," he added, hoping to lighten the mood. It didn't work. "I'll even fund you. As long as you are here, she will always have a niggling feeling that she should know something about me. It would be better if you relocate. Get her help. With the memory wipe she should be mostly normal, but she might take offence to someone else and try revenge again. She needs a mind-healer."

The idea of the Lovegood relocating was a bit depressing, knowing that if the man took him up on his offer that would be one more friend that Harry would never know. Maybe he'd see if Sirius could buy Dobby off Narcissa. His thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Lovegood's last attempt to protect his wife.

"Or I could go to the DMLE and report you for kidnapping my wife," Xeno said, though not very forcefully, like he knew it was an empty threat.

"And I would have to share my memories of her hitting me on the back of the head, tying me to a chair and throwing torture devices at me for the better part of a day," Hydrus rebutted firmly, though you could see from the remorse in his eyes that it was the last thing he wanted to do.

The tall, blond man slumped in his chair, he knew he was defeated and for the good of his family he would take this man up on his offer. They spent hours going over what needed to be done, in the end Hydrus would give them the startup money and Xeno would sign a contract to not come back to Britain, unless it was imperative. They talked over how to get Pandora the help she needed. They went to Mr. Jasper's office and set up everything. Hydrus told Xeno that he would bring his wife home soon.

He went home, to his room, and restored Pandora, but kept her knocked out. He then picked her up and Disapparated to the Rookery. He handed her to her husband and with a remorseful farewell he left. He went back to the Quibbler's office and to the room he had been tied up in. He gathered all of the inventions and put them in his pocketspace and banished the chairs. Then with a lightened heart, he went home. Glad that this part of his life was finally over, nevertheless sad that he may never see them again.

He just hoped letting her go didn't come back to bite him in the arse later.