"Don't let them escape!" Mary shouted. Memories of all kinds were flying out of the statue, just like she predicted. She knew most of them wanted to run in and see what had happened to James, but they couldn't do that yet. Would they ever forgive her if he died? Or completely lost his mind from doing this?
She saw wisps of memories enter Albus, Rose and Scorpius. They all jumped in surprise. It seems they had been affected, if not to such an extent as James had been. A cloud of memories also made their way to the prisoner the Minister had brought. He looked confused then started crying. Whether that was relief or remorse was hard to say. A few memories also made their way to nearby houses, outside the barrier Mr. Potter had created. Very few memories actually made it into a container. Mary caught one and saw that it was one of the ones she had felt decaying. The rest seemed to find their way back to their owner whether they were here or not. Had the rest of this been unnecessary then? She supposed they would never know.
Finally, the smoke seemed to withdraw. The top of the statue was gone, everything from the middle of it and up was broken on the ground. The hand with the scythe lay in pieces even further back.
James lay face down on the ground right where the panel activating the statue had been. Albus, Ginny and Harry all started to run towards him.
"No, don't touch him yet!" Mary tried to say, but they didn't heed her warning. She saw several wisps of memories go into him as well, hopefully the process was done by now. His family all made it to him at the same time, most of the rest of them were not far behind. As Ginny touched him, James stirred. Mary and Sophia also moved closer, to see what damage had been done.
James was crying as he looked at his mother. She held him close to her chest.
"I remember," he whispered, but they all heard it. "I remember everything. All the good, all the bad. It's all here."
Everyone drew a relieved breath, including Mary. It worked. It had actually worked! Mary was about to turn to Sophia and smile when Scorpius and Albus both shouted out in pain. They fell to the ground touching their right arm. Rose was by her husband's side in a moment, Sophia moved to Albus. After about a minute, it stopped. Rose rolled up Scorpius' sleeve, despite his attempt at preventing her.
There was nothing there. Mary had thought there would be a wound of some sort, but the skin was bare. But everyone else stared at the bare arms as if there was something wrong. Even Sophia.
"It's gone," Scorpius said. "How can that be? We didn't get those until later."
"Maybe that was another thing this foul thing did." Albus said. "Connecting all of us. I wonder if it was just the new ones, or if your father has now lost his as well."
"I doubt it can be that old," Scorpius said. "Someone would have noticed it in the intervening years."
"Maybe you can actually wear short sleeves now," Sophia said with a smile. Albus laughed.
"In Britain? Unlikely."
Mary was definitely missing something. What was gone? Had something gone wrong after all? At least she wasn't the only one. Dean Thomas was the one who asked what most of the rest of them wanted to know.
"Sorry to interrupt, but what's gone?"
Albus looked up and smiled.
"The Dark Mark. Both Scorpius and I got those when we had to pretend to join the Death Eaters. And we haven't been able to remove it until now. It wasn't really a big deal, but it was a constant reminder of what happened. I won't miss it, that's for sure."
"Neither will I," Scorpius said with an even bigger smile. He planted a kiss on Rose's cheek as they both got up on their feet again. Sophia helped Albus up as well.
Mary then remembered James and went over to check on him.
"How are you feeling? Did the destruction cause any damage to your body?"
"Not directly, other than a few scratches from pieces of stone," James replied. He also had a huge smile on his face. "But I don't think we can reuse the sledgehammer again." He pointed to a heap of metal nearby.
"Well, it did the job," Mr. Potter said. He too was smiling. "Sometimes you just need to revert to the simplest of methods. Though that was quite reckless of you James."
"I know," he sighed. "But I was just so sick of standing there, waiting. As soon as Sophia suggested using a sledgehammer, I sort of just felt that I had to do it. I was the one who was most affected by it, and also the one most used to fight the effects. I didn't want anyone else to have to risk getting caught in it for me."
"Well, maybe you were the only one who could destroy it, as you were the one subjected to the full force of it. Some types of magic are like that."
"Either way, it's done now," Mrs. Potter said. "Let's tidy this up and make sure no one can rebuild the thing ever again."
Now that the statue was broken, it turned out to be no problem destroying the remains. Mr. Potter made it all into dust, which he then placed in some of the leftover containers and made Aurors bury it in various places all over the country. That was apparently a way to ensure no one could find all the parts of Dark artefacts to remake them later. Each Auror had their own places to bury dust like this, and no one told anyone else where that was.
James got on his feet eventually and made his way over to Mary. She was unprepared for him hugging her, but she managed to return the hug after a few seconds.
"Thank you," he said. "I will never be able to repay you for this. You've given me my life back."
"There is no need for that," Mary said, unsure of what to say. "I am a Healer. And this case presented me with some unique challenges. I would have done it no matter who suffered from it."
"That doesn't make my gratitude any less," James replied, still grinning. "But maybe we can talk more about this some other time, with less people around? Over dinner maybe?"
Did James Potter just ask her out on a date, or did she misunderstand? Mary had never been asked to dinner by anyone before, so she wasn't sure what to expect. But she couldn't say no to that!
"I would be delighted. I have the afternoon shift tomorrow, but I'm free the day after." Mary saw that Sophia had heard them, and that she desperately tried to keep in her giggles. She wasn't even able to give her a stern look, with everyone else around.
"I'll send an owl with the details," James said with a smile. Mary was spared from having to prolong the awkward conversation when the Minister came over as well.
"If this is what you usually do at your Order, I look forward to further collaborations," she said with a smile. "We owe you a great debt. Both professionally, for removing a dangerous object, but also personally. This issue has been hanging over the Potter and Weasley family for many years now. If there is anything you need from us, we will try to accommodate it."
Mary didn't know what to say to that. She hadn't done it because the Potters were famous, or for any hope of a reward. She had done it because it was the right thing to do.
"I should be thanking you, Minister, for believing in me and letting me try this. I just hope that there aren't any more of these things, but at least you know what to do with them now."
"Yes. Though I worry what would have happened if someone else had been the one to smash the thing. It's one of those things that we may never know."
"Not every mystery can be solved," Mary agreed. "But that doesn't mean we can't try."
The Minister smiled. "That has always been my thought as well. I think we need people like you, and Miss Buller and the other people in the Order of the Hidden Dragon. People that dare to think new. If you ever need somewhere to test new ideas, reach out to me. I think that is better than having you hide in alleys and risk being caught up in other people's problems."
"Actually, I've been thinking about that," Scorpius said as he joined them. "I have a large plot of land in Wiltshire that I don't want to do anything with. I've talked with both Rose and my father, and they agree. It is fairly remote and would be perfect for testing most things that cannot be done in that cave of yours."
Mary was overwhelmed with all this new information at once. Why did Scorpius Malfoy have land he couldn't use? Was it just because the Malfoy family was rich? Albus and Sophia heard his offer as well and came over.
"Are you sure about this, Scorpius? It could completely ruin the soil."
"Absolutely. It's not like we use it for anything at the moment."
"Why not?" Sophia asked. Mary was just glad she didn't have to ask.
"Ah, it is the land where Malfoy Manor used to be," Scorpius replied. "Where we were housed for the rest of our brief stint as Death Eaters. Once we were done, we burnt the whole place down. I had originally thought of building another house on the land, but I couldn't make myself do it. Besides, I wanted to be closer to my family."
The land where Malfoy Manor once stood? That was a huge area! Mary and Sophia exchanged glances.
"Let's get back to you on that," Sophia said eventually. "We need to discuss it with the others. What do you want in return for us using the land?"
"In return? Nothing. You've already done more than enough."