TBAY: Is redemption *always* a possibility

[Melody]

No: HPFGUIDX 46583

On a bright autumn day where the wind is just crisp enough, a distinct
scream echoed through the halls of the Safe House.  Pip with her hands
balled into fists was on a mission.  She darted down into the west
wing of the house and to a very scratched, very heavy door.  Pounding
three times, "Wolf you better be in there!" she challenged.

On the other side of the door, Grey Wolf looked up from his latest
model of the flight Sirius took the months he was in hiding.  Given
that Sirius has no action figure, Grey was using an old Malibu Barbie
doll, with her hair cut short to *try* and make her more masculine,
and a Triceratops with wings glued on for Buckbeak.  A bit perplexed
since Pip never comes banging on his door with threats, Grey quickly
waved his hand to open the door.

"How dare you." Pip hissed as she advanced toward his desk.

"How dare I what?" asked Grey actually cowering a little at the
passion behind her eyes.

A fuming Pip grabbed Grey's arm and tried to pull him up and drag him
out, "What did you give her?  Not something Meg prescribed I hope.  I
mean that girl is still in med school after all and..."

A bit amused that Pip thought she could managed to actually even lift
his arm let alone drag him anywhere, "Give who what?"

"Melody.  Gracious who else is here.  Honestly." Pip said while
rolling her eyes.  "You did something to her."

Grey responded defensively, "I did nothing of the sort.  You know I
took her breakfast yesterday..."

"Exactly.  Now if you will just...get...up" Pip grunted while still
trying to move the beast.  Finally giving up since she knew Grey was
enjoying her vain efforts too much, which men often times do ;) , Pip
took a deep breath and asked, "Will you at least, come and see what I
mean?"

"See what?"

That bit question just infuriated Pip more, and with one big grasp and
tug, she not only managed to move Grey, but to drag him completely to
his door before Grey realized what happened.  After this day, Grey
took note not to play dumb when Pip's veins were popping out of her
forehead.

"Pip." Grey called still stumbling.  "Pip! Please.  Let me at least
stand up."

Reaching her destination, Pip finally stopped dragging Grey and
dropped him by the main windows overlooking the backyard.  "Look." she
insisted.

Checking his arm first for bleeding slashes, Grey looked up and out to
see a very odd site indeed.  Melody was wistfully swaying in the
middle of the backyard dressed in her nightgown with her new tail-coat
over it and a little fuzzy spring ball headband on her head.  She was
twirling around trying to make her toy boat fly in its string.  And if
he wasn't mistaken, she was also holding a small thundercat's figure
in her other hand.

Not being able to resist, Grey commented, "And?"

Pip's eyes started filling with tears.  "She must of taken the whole
bottle!   And it is ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Grey looked at Pip and then looked out at Melody.  "What do you expect
me to do about it?  I did not tell her to take that much."

Tapping her foot getting very impatient, "Even still, YOU are the one
that needs to fix it."

Grey sighed.  He knew this argument is pointless.  "Pip, you know I
would never..."

Pip relaxed a bit, "I know.  It is just...she has been through so much
right now.  When I went to Mel's room this morning to check on her,
but she wasn't there.  Then, I saw the empty bottle and knew she
wasn't in sound mine enough to self-dose herself.  I owled the Doc for
a counter medicine, but I cannot get close enough to Mel to get her to
take it."  Pip sat down watching Mel walk the little figure across the
boat deck and then made him fall off into the grassy ocean.

"Have you gone out there to bring her in?"

"I tried, though she is quite strong for a loony." Pip sighed.  "I
only got her to the porch before she broke free and ran the where she
is now.  Grey, I am afraid she will crack and jump in the bay if we
don't get her this other medicine."

"Ok, ok.  I'll try to talk reason to her.  And well, if that doesn't
work, I'll sweep her up and lock her in her room until this passes."

"Thank you." Pip smiled feeling like her little housemate was going to
be safe after all.  She walked out onto the porch with Grey Wolf and
sat in the rocker to watch as he tiptoed behind the girl.

Melody of course was in her own little world.  She never told Grey and
Pip the affects medicine can have on her little body, so she was
feeling *really* good at the moment watching the boat go up and down
and up and down and...

"Twinkle twinkle little...AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"

Seems Grey was a little too quiet in approaching dear Mel.  Granted
when one is hopped up on medication a white bunny rabbit could
frighten you, but a rather large hairy werewolf is right up there in
certain death no matter your mental state.

"Melody.  Mel.  Mel!" Grey called as he chased the girl around the
yard.  This was not going as he planned.  Stopping abruptly at the
sound of her name, Melody swayed and stared near the space where the
voice came from.  "Grey?" she said as her head bobbled.

"Yes, Mel.  It is me." he tried to say while sounding reassuring.

"Why are you wearing a fur coat?" she asked glazy eyed.

Twitching his mouth a bit to figure out how much of reality he needed
to tell the girl, "Um, Mel.  This is not a coat.  Well, not a coat
like you're thinking.  It is my skin."

"Ewwww, your skin is very hairy." She said as she crumbled down to
pick at the buttons on her tail-coat.  Her boat and figurine were
still clasped in her other hand.

"Yes, well," Grey blustered trying to change the subject.  "Mel,
um...what are you doing out here?"

Sitting back letting her head bounce, Melody recalled in a rather
sing-song voice, "I was going downstairs when I heard a voice.  It was
Eileen talking but I could not see her."

Grey looked back to Pip on the porch and saw she was listening closely
and was relieved he has managed to calm Mel down to one place.  "What
was Eileen saying?" he asked not sure if Eileen was really in the
house or not.

"Oh, she was talking about redemption and Dalmatian Roads..." Mel
grinned starting to make the Thundercat's figure walk on the deck again.

Grey laughed.  "I think you mean Damascus."

"Huh?  Oh, ok." Mel smiled still not quit focusing her eyes right.
"Anyway, she says that Snape and Crouch are redeemed and Peter
probably will be, but not Draco.  She doesn't like Draco." Melody
emphasized the last bit with the figure pounding on the toy boat.

Grey began looking around wondering if this girl would ever get to a
point or just keep rambling.

"So I came out here to wonder.  See I found my boat and this cute
kitty figurine." Melody said as she held out the figure six inches
from Grey's face for his appraisal.

"Yes, very nice.  Um, Mel.  What did you wonder?" Grey kept pressing
hoping to get back to his own figures and theory sometime before
Christmas.

"Oh, I wonder if,"  Melody looked around to see if anyone else was
around, which granted if she was not a bit loopy she would of noticed
Pip there, and upon deciding it was safe, crept next to Grey's ear to
whisper, "You-know-who will be redeemed."

Grey laughed.  "I truly doubt it."

Melody bounced back, scrunched her brow, and pouted, "Says who?"

"Well, no one, I just don't see him turning from evil and becoming the
grand, good wizard of WW." Grey said while sitting back on his elbows.
 He figured he might as well get comfortable.

Glaring at Grey, Melody took up her boat and Thundercat.  "Look, if
Voldemort is not redeemable then why bother with redemption in the
first place?  It is like he made the *one* choice to get on the boat,
and then he is forced to take the fate of the boat ride he has no
control over."  To punctuate her story, Melody walked the figure on
the deck and caused it the hit a nearby rock spectacularly and throw
Voldemort Thundercat into the grassy sea.

"But, He-who-must-not-be-named," she said again hush-hush, "Is not on
a doomed boat.  He can choose to be good again."  Melody this time
walked Voldemort on the boat deck but when the boat hit the rock, she
quickly fashioned a lifeboat out of her dangly fuzzy ball headband and
saved Voldemort.  "See, there is always a life boat in redemption."
she said quite proudly.

Grey raised an eyebrow at her.  "Honey, you are insane.  You have
taken *way* too much of Meg's medicine, and I am sure your head is
still not well enough to have you thinking that Voldemort can be
redeemed like Darth Vader."

"NO!" Melody insisted, "Not like Darth Vader.  Like Paul on the road
to Dalmatians."

"Damascus."

Melody rolled her head away from Grey annoyed by his very presence,
and peered at the figure.  "But, don't you see.  If Voldemort does
change, if he does see the error of his ways and does a complete 180
like Paul, then all can live.  Harry then does not have to be a murderer."

"But Mel, the evil overlord must always die." Grey said picking a few
blades of grass.

She cut her eyes over to the beast next to her, "Grey, that is
meta-thinking."

Grey smiled a bit, "True.  But, just the way things are."

"Not in Harry Potter land." she said brushing the grass while staring
at the clouds.  "Here anything is possible.  Even the redemption of
Voldemort." she added as she then decided to pick the flower petals
and cup them in her hand.

Grey looked up amazed she finally said the name.  "Mel, the whole arc
of the story is to make a final battle between good and evil and good
*will* win."

"Damascus!Voldemort is still good conquering evil.  It just does not
have that Bang." and with those words Melody clapped her hands
together and giggled as the petals flew over Grey.  He looked a little
silly.

"Alright, enough fresh air for you," Grey groaned as he brushed the
petals off and swept up Mel, her boat, and figure and lumbered back to
the Safe House.  Mel rolled her head back to watch the sky pass and
went back to cooing to herself.

Seeing Grey walking back to the Safe House with an uninjured Mel in
tow, Pip looked very relieved.  Jumping up to open the door and clear
the path, Pip helped Grey lower Mel on the couch and gave Mel the
antidote to Meg's medicine.  Tucking a blanket around the little loony
as she returned to deep sleep, Pip asked, "What was she talking about
with you for so long?  I would of figured she would not of been able
to form complete sentences with as much medicine as she took."

Sitting into his usual chair, Grey said, "She was going on about
Voldemort being redeemable.  She really did take too much there."

Pip sat back on her heels and thought about the idea.  "Well, it is
possible.  After all, the guy is only human."

Grey knocked his head back and growled a bit.  "Voldemort deserves to
die.  We all know that."

"A soul can be broken and turned at anytime." Pip said quietly.  "Good
can be chosen as easily as evil.  Maybe Voldemort can be redeemed."

"Oh bother," Grey grunted as he got up to return to his room.  "Fine,
be loony also.  I still say the one character that will *not* have any
sort of redemption contract is Voldemort.  He has gone too far to change."

Watching Grey pound off to his room, Pip looked at sleeping Mel.
"Well, probably not, but it is plausible.  He too can make choices."


Melody
who hopes she managed to represent Pip's and Grey's opinions on the
matter, and greatly apologies if she deeply failed.