Chapter 4: The White Whale
Two weeks had gone by since Rose and Simon had officially announced that a new baby was on the way. The scene at The Burrow was as expected; Granny Molly was ecstatic, everybody else was excited and Hugo teased Simon about being a randy centaur. When they had dinner later that night with Simon's parents, though, it was even funnier to Simon. Oliver and Katie were somehow even happier than the Weasleys, as Simon was an only child. While in the midst of eating, after they'd moved on to other topics, Katie sat down her fork.
"You know, you'll have enough for a Keeper, two Chasers and a Seeker. If you keep going you could fill out a Quidditch team!"
Rose had initially thought she was joking, but the look on her face indicated that she was, in fact, serious. Simon must have heard Rose's slight intake of breath as she felt his hand take hers under the table and squeeze it gently. Even though Simon went along with his parents' desire to field an entire Quidditch team made up of their grandchildren Rose knew that he was humoring them.
It was while telling George that Oliver and Katie wanted her to birth a Quidditch team that the mail arrived, and after George left to do whatever it was that he actually did all day Rose opened the mail. Unfortunately there were no Magical Match questionnaires; actually in some way, it was good that there weren't any Magical Match questionnaires. Rose was worried about who she would find that would be Seamus Finnegan's match or, most likely, she wouldn't find anyone and would have to refund his money. Seamus was somewhat of a legend in the Auror office, the reason that a certain disguise spell had an element that would cause the person disguised to revert to their original appearance if anything "intimate" happened, the Auror who had at one time dated most of the assistants in the Auror office and above all one of the least politically correct people that Rose had ever met. Those were just the stories, though; Rose needed more information, and she knew of one person who would give her a good background on Seamus, but it would come at a cost.
Rose left a note on her desk saying that she would be out of the office for the afternoon and gathered her things; luckily she was caught up on her duties, so she wasn't worried that things would get out of hand if she was away for the afternoon. If George said anything she'd say something about morning sickness or other baby related things and that would be enough for her uncle. As she walked out of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes she wasn't sure about her plan, as it made her stomach somewhat upset in a different way than morning sickness. Abruptly she shook her head; she'd kept it a secret just between her and Simon for too long, and if anyone could keep this secret it was him.
When she arrived outside her father's office his assistant smiled as she saw Rose.
"Congratulations Rose! Your father was ecstatic. Here to see him?"
Rose nodded and sat down in the chair beside the assistant's desk. "Thank you. What's his schedule like today?"
"You're in luck, he's in a meeting now but he should be out any minute and after that he doesn't have anything until 2."
Ron Weasley came around the corner deep in conversation with an elderly wizard, both of them looking at parchment. As they came towards the assistant's desk Ron stopped suddenly. "Rosie! This is a nice surprise." He glanced towards the elderly wizard and nodded. "We can pick that up later this afternoon." As the wizard walked away Ron went over to his door, opened it, and nodded his head towards the office, indicating that Rose should enter. As Rose entered Ron leaned over to his assistant and told her to hold everything until further notice.
Rose sat in her father's office and felt like she was ten years old again. She'd always loved her father's office, so different from her mother's little cozy office. Ron's space was covered with maps, a few old wanted posters and pictures of his children and grandchildren and of course a large Chudley Cannons pennant. The picture of Rose, Ron and Simon in his Cannons uniform was prominently displayed under the pennant. And as always, prominently displayed on his desk was her parents' wedding picture. Rose avoided her Uncle Harry's chair, which had been enchanted to keep everyone except Harry out of the chair, and sat down opposite of her father. As usual Ron pulled out a tin of chocolate biscuits.
"So, Rosie, I'm always glad to see you, but what brings you by today?"
Rose glanced at her father and unknowingly began turning the rings on her fingers. "Well, Daddy, I'm…it's just…I need some help, and…"
Ron took a deep breath and sat back in his chair. "Rosie, what's going on? Something must be up because you're messing about with your rings and you called me Daddy. It's not Simon, is it?"
Rose immediately stopped playing with her rings and shook her head. "Oh no, Simon's wonderful as always, it's just…" Rose looked down, took a deep breath and then fixed her father in the eye. "Promise you won't tell Mum?"
"Rose? Little girl, what is it? And it's not fair asking me to not tell your Mum, you know I'm crap at that." Ron got up from his chair and began making tea. "You know if you tell me I'm going to talk to your mum, especially if she asks. She always knows when I'm not telling her everything." He stopped suddenly. "Do you need money?"
"No, Dad!" Rose pulled her hair back and let it fall behind her back. "Dad, it's about my visions."
That caused Ron to stop immediately. "What did you see, Rosie? Is it bad?"
She shook her head. "No, Dad. Um, you know how Mum always plays matchmaker? Says she 'has a feeling' about a couple?"
Ron poured the tea into two cups, gave one to Rose and sat on the corner of his desk. "Yes…but that's just your Mum. She likes seeing people paired off."
Rose took a sip of tea. "Well, just like I inherited your freckles and her hair I inherited that too, but with a difference. Dad, have you ever heard of Magical Match?"
Ron nodded. "Yeah, the company that puts couples together if you send in the answers to a lot of questions." He froze. "Rose, are you saying…"
"Yes, Dad. I run Magical Match. I do it on the side, and it doesn't interfere with my work at Uncle George's and it helps bring in extra Galleons. Simon…"
"He knows, right? Please tell me you've told him about this?"
Rose chuckled at her Dad's stern gaze. "Of course, Daddy. Simon and I don't have any secrets."
"Good." Ron rubbed his forehead. "You know, Dilkins down in Magical Games and Sports met his wife through Magical Match. They've been together a few years now. Ok, Rosie, sounds like it works and Simon's happy and you're making a nice bit of gold, so why are you telling me?"
"Usually it isn't hard; I get a feeling about one questionnaire and pair it with another one, usually it just happens, but this time I got one that I need some help on and I think you're the best one to ask."
"Me?" Ron shook his head. "You probably should talk to your Mum. You know she says that I'm one of the least romantic men on the face of the earth."
"She just likes to tease you about that; you're actually pretty good in that department, Dad. I remember…sorry, but I don't think Mum can help. Dad, I got a questionnaire from Seamus Finnegan."
"Merlin's pants." Ron smiled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me, the old goat."
"Dad, you were his roommate at Hogwarts and you were both Aurors together, what can you tell me about him?"
"Besides the fact that he's in his fifties and sometimes acts like he's seventeen?" Ron took a sip of tea. "Ok, let me think. Wait a second, Rosie…you said that you just use your visions and put people together, why the questions about Seamus? Can't you just do your normal thing? And how long have you been doing this, anyway?"
"A while, Dad, but that's not the issue. I know about his history and I'm afraid of what will happen when I actually do match him with someone. Daddy, this is the first time I've really wondered if I should match someone, or if I can."
Ron looked at his daughter intently and recognized the wheels moving; she resembled Hermione in that way as there was a lot going on underneath the surface. "Ok, Rosie. Ok. Seamus doesn't have a great history; he's got a reputation that I'm sure you're aware of, mostly negative. If I tried to name all of the women he's been involved with one way or another we'd be here all day, but that's because most of his relationships don't last very long. The woman he's been involved with on and off for the longest is, surprisingly, Petal Farnsworth."
That got Rosie's attention. "Professor Farnsworth? My old DADA professor at Hogwarts? Really."
Ron nodded his head. "On and off again for years, mostly off. Never could figure that one out. He was in Wales when she was cursed, you know."
"No, Daddy, I don't know." Rosie shook her head. "Ok, out with it."
Ron scratched his head absentmindedly. "I'm not sure…ok, but this stays between us, obviously. Seamus bought her a ring at a really dodgy shop, a nice ring but far too nice for what he paid for it, which should have been his first hint. Gave her the ring and, well, you know what her hand looks like. We went back and the shop was gone, cleared out, nobody'd ever heard of the place before. Needless to say that didn't go well for Seamus or Petal. That's when he started drinking." Ron looked at his daughter very intently. "If I ever hear one word of what I'm about to tell you I'll…" Ron searched his memory for a moment. "I'll tell your mum that I didn't ruin her lacy nightgown in the wash, the one that she never got to wear, I'll tell her what really happened."
Rose's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. She didn't think anyone would ever connect her to that; she'd 'borrowed' the nightgown for a weekend when she and Simon had gone on a quick holiday after Hogwarts, before they were married. "Daddy! How did you know?"
"Rosie, I'm an Auror. Please." Ron looked as embarrassed as Rose, but he soldiered on. "Ok, after Seamus gave Petal that cursed ring he started drinking. Not just every now and then, but all the time; after work, before work…your Uncle Harry and I finally caught him out on a mission in the field with a half-full bottle of firewhiskey and that was the end of that. We took him to St. Leo's to dry out."
"St. Leo's? I've never heard of that." Rose cocked her head. "Is that part of St. Mungo's?"
"No, and I'm glad you've never heard of it. It's where people go if they get addicted to firewhiskey or worse things. Seamus was officially 'on assignment' but Robards made him go take care of things. He hasn't touched a drop since. So that's the history, little girl. Since then he's been one of your Uncle Harry's best Aurors, almost fanatically dedicated to the job. I guess since his personal life is non-existent, he's not drinking, and he's been by himself for all those years, not to mention the incident with the ring and Petal…you can see why he's lonely. Doesn't surprise me that he sent in a thingy to Magical Match." Ron shook his head and laughed. "Your mum always calls him the white whale."
"White whale? Dad, why does she…"
"Some Muggle book. I guess that means the thing that you can never get, something always out of your reach. I think after setting him up for the fourth time and getting a nasty letter back from the woman the next day your mum just stopped trying." Ron looked at his daughter and winked at her. "Ok, little girl, you know if your mother asks me anything I'll tell her. Magical Match, she'd love that. But you know, I don't think I'll offer it up."
"Thanks, Daddy. Just do me a favor, don't tell her Uncle Harry told you not to say anything; you know that makes her mental."
Rose left her father's office and was almost out of the Ministry when she heard her name being called, causing her shoulders to slump as she recognized her mum's voice.
"Rose, what brings you by today? And you weren't going to stop in and see me?" Hermione stood in her Ministry robes, a large collection of parchment in her arms. "What's wrong, Rose?"
After realizing that there was no way to get out of the situation except lying, Rose walked over to her mum. "I just came over for a minute to talk to Dad. Can you break away for an early lunch?"
Hermione looked at her watch briefly and then nodded. "Let me put these away and then we'll go to lunch. You're acting very suspicious, Rose. It's not something with Simon or the boys, is it?"
Rose shook her head. "No, Mum. I'll tell you in a few minutes."
The waiter had removed the plates from the table when Hermione shook her head and chuckled. "At least you come by it honestly. If I only had a Galleon for every time I told your father I had a feeling about a couple. But why the secrecy, Rose?"
"Think about it, Mum. I'd have everybody coming up to me asking all sorts of questions and then they'd be angry if I didn't have an answer right away. Do you know what Freddie would have said to me?"
"Very true." Hermione nodded. "I see your point." She looked at the table for quite some time. "Rosie, did I ever tell you about the dreams I had when I was pregnant with you?"
Rose shrugged. "Somewhat. When I was pregnant with Walter you told me you used to have odd dreams. What of it?"
"I think some of your gifts came out in my dreams. I had one of Professor Muggle and Melody before they were married and it came true. I never had those kinds of dreams with your brother." Rose and Hermione were silent as the waiter brought over their bill. Hermione took it before Rose could say anything. "Now, you never did tell me, what was so important that you had to talk to your father?"
The hurt in Hermione's voice was obvious to Rose; she'd gone to her father instead of her mum. "I got a questionnaire from one of Dad's old Hogwarts roommates."
Hermione's mind started whirring and it didn't take her long to come to the correct answer. "Seamus Finnegan? Merlin, Rose."
"Dad said you call him the white whale."
"I tried to get your father to read that book once. He got to the whale chapters and handed it back to me. Yes, Seamus is something of a white whale as I've tried to fix him up with nice women before and it always ends badly. What are you going to do, Rose?"
"I guess I'll wait until I get a questionnaire that matches his. I'm not sure how long that will be, though."
The next four months went by without a match for Seamus Finnegan. Rose and Simon attended Hermione's farewell party at the Ministry and the news conference announcing Dumbledore University, Ron was officially named Assistant Minister of Magic and the newest pregnancy went along much easier than the previous three. Magical Match settled back into its usual routine, with a few new matches and some additional questionnaires and George continued his morning tea and venting session. Rose was happy to hear that Freddie and Elise had been seeing each other and that things were, surprisingly, going very well. George was mostly happy that Angelina's cooking was back to previous levels and that Freddie hadn't been arrested lately.
The only thing that bothered Rose was that she had developed what her Aunt Ginny called 'pregnant brain;' it seemed like she would forget things that were routine, do things multiple times or easily lose her train of thought when talking to someone. Simon told her it was worse this time than the previous times which caused her to be angry at him for a while, unfortunately right before he had to leave on an extended trip to play a friendly match with one of the Russian teams. Rose was thinking of Simon when she left Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes offices to head to St. Mungo's for her checkup, and it was while she was in the waiting room that she realized that she had not only brought several invoices with her but also the stack of Magical Match questionnaires that had been on her desk.
"Rose Wood?" The blonde Healer stood with a clipboard in her hand. "Rose Wood?"
Rose realized finally that the Healer was saying her name, stood up and walked to the woman. "Here."
The Healer smiled at her. "Well, you've certainly grown since the last time I saw you, in more ways than one." The woman smiled at her. "Right this way."
As Rose followed the Healer she felt confused; did she know this woman? "I'm sorry, have we met?"
The Healer opened the door to the examination room and Rose entered. The Healer walked in and sat her clipboard on the table next to the examination bed. "You were a first year, you probably wouldn't remember me. Besides, I was in Slytherin. I was a seventh year…Gladys McQuillen."
Rose nodded. "Very nice to meet you, Gladys. But how did you know me?"
Gladys began preparing the examination equipment. "Oh, everyone knew who you and your cousins were at Hogwarts. The children of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grang…er, Weasley. So much for ancient history, big day for you today, isn't it?"
Rose looked at the Healer strangely. "Big day? So sorry, I'm not following you."
After looking through her clipboard Gladys smiled. "We can tell you the sex of the baby today. If you want to find out, that is."
"Oh!" Rose eased up onto the examination bed, placing her folders at the end next to the pillow. "I hadn't thought about that. And Simon's in Russia…"
"You don't have to, you can wait until the next appointment if you'd like." Gladys looked around the room. "Hmm…don't have the salve in here for it right now…if you want to know I can go get it."
Rose thought about it for a moment and then made up her mind. It would be so nice to apologize to Simon by telling him that he was going to have a daughter. "All right, then. Yes, yes, let's do that today."
Gladys smiled and sat the clipboard on the foot of the examination bed. "I always love this part. I'll be right back."
After waiting for a few moments Rose decided to lie down; after all, that would be the next request and if she was honest with herself her back and her ankles were hurting a bit. She picked up her parchment and then realized that the Healer's clipboard was at the foot of the bed; after picking it up Rose stopped moving.
The interior of a small, sparse room appeared, lit with only a single lamp. A woman sat on a sofa next to a small fire which was dying. Her voice was soft and her hand was moving slowly over a man's head, stroking his hair. Small sobs could be heard from the man, and the woman spoke in a soothing tone as the man laid his head in her lap. She held him quietly as the fire dwindled and eventually died, leaving them half-lit by the lamp.
"Ok, then, let's find out if you need a blue blanket or a pink blanket." Gladys re-entered the room, noticed the clipboard and hurriedly took it out of Rose's grasp. "Um, I'll take that. You can put your things down over there."
Rose blinked her eyes several times. There had to be a Magical Match questionnaire in the clipboard underneath all of the medical forms! Rose seemed in a daze as she put her files on the table indicated and laid down on the examination bed. Gladys helped Rose move up her shirt to reveal her pregnant stomach and soon the cold salve was spread across her belly. Gladys took out her wand and waved it around her stomach. Both women watched as the salve began to shimmer, the colors initially turning iridescent but finally settling on a very bright, distinct shade of blue.
"Mrs. Wood, it's a boy."
Rose waited until Simon arrived home from Russia on the weekend to tell him her news. Initially she was caught up in the story of her vision and it was only when Simon reached out and took her hands did she realize he was waiting anxiously for the news.
"I'm Granny Weasley all over again, Simon. It's a boy."
Simon hugged her tightly. "Told you we didn't need to worry about a girl name, Rosie." He held her at arm's length. "Are you ok with this?"
"Do I have a choice?"
Nigel's voice broke the moment. "MUM! WALTER HIT ME!"
Rose and Simon exchanged a knowing look. Before either could say a word Walter came barreling down the staircase. "Nigel made me do it he was jumping on my bed an' knocked down my dragons 'an…"
Simon held up his hand. "Enough. Ok, let's get this sorted." He stood up and pointed towards the staircase. "March."
Rose sat back and shook her head. Another boy added to those three? At least her Mum wouldn't have to color her hair anymore. She picked up the small notepad that she and Simon had begun writing down names and couldn't help but notice that the girl side only held a first and middle name while the boy side had multiple names written down. It was while she was looking over the boy names that Graham came into the room with a stack of papers, tearing pieces off, throwing them in the air and making the paper resemble confetti at a parade.
"Graham William Wood! What are you doing?" Rose held out her hand to her son and he quickly averted her eyes; he looked down at his feet and took several very small steps towards her, remaining as far out of arm's reach as possible. "Graham! Come here."
Reluctantly he moved forward until Rose could take the papers out of his hands. "Where did you get this? You know that's not allowed. What if those were Mummy's work papers? Uncle George wouldn't like that. You want to go to Mummy's work again, don't you?"
That scared Graham as he loved going to his mum's work, specifically because whenever he was there George spoiled him rotten. Without looking at his mum he handed her the papers.
Rose scanned through the papers quickly and found part of a note on top, from George, saying that these had arrived after she had left for the day. The note also had part of a sentence about Freddie, but the rest was missing, leaving Rose wondering what she'd missed. A quick examination of the rest of the papers indicated that they were all Weasleys' papers except for one…that one had Gladys McQuillen's name at the top but the rest was torn away.
After taking a series of very deep breaths Rose looked at Graham. "You are in trouble. You know better than to do that with Mummy's papers. Go pick up every piece of paper and bring it to me, and after that you're going to have supper and then straight to bed. No stories."
Graham gave her his best frown and pouty lip but it didn't do any good. He picked up as many of the pieces of paper as possible, bringing them over to his mum in several trips and had almost finished when Simon came downstairs.
"Do I want to know what happened?"
Rose shook her head quickly. "I'll tell you later. Graham William will be having his supper and then going to bed. No stories tonight."
Simon let out a low whistle. "Son, do what your mum says." He moved across the room slowly and sat down next to his wife. "Bad?"
"Yes."
Simon saw that her face was flushed, and he knew that when she resorted to single syllable answers it was definitely not good. As soon as Graham brought over the last of the pieces of paper Rose just looked at him and pointed towards his bedroom upstairs. Simon had to stifle a laugh as Graham's exit was one of the most pitiful things he had ever seen; his son was trying all of his tricks to make his mother less angry, including looking back towards the sofa when he was on the bottom step with large puppy dog eyes. After catching his eye and shaking his head, Simon watched Graham slowly walk upstairs.
After telling Simon what had happened Rose watched him take out his wand and make the pieces of paper reassemble, and soon the parchment was whole again; Gladys McQuillen's questionnaire, slightly rumpled, lay on her lap. She looked at the questionnaire for a moment, handed it to Simon, and then went over to her bag which sat next to the kitchen table. When she returned Rose took Gladys' questionnaire and, without even looking at the folder, reached in and pulled out a questionnaire.
A man and a woman sat high on a hill next to a tree as the sun began to slowly sink. The woman leaned into the man and then turned to face him. He looked down at her, smiling, as the sky began to turn dark. A soft rain began to fall, but neither the man nor the woman seemed to notice.
"Rosie?" Simon touched her hand and watched his wife's face return to normal. Even though he'd seen it happen before it still unnerved him. "Rosie, are you ok?"
Rose turned over the questionnaires; Gladys McQuillen and Seamus Finnegan. "Yes, love, I am. And I think they will be, too."
Simon looked at the questionnaires. "I'll be a hippogriff, it's like you thought. You know, from what you told me about him, maybe a Healer would be the best match for him."
Rose raised an eyebrow at Simon. "You're probably right. At least now I won't have to refund his money. Dad sent me a note yesterday, he heard Seamus talking with Rory Abertnut about how Magical Match was a scam."
Simon smiled. "Rory Wood. Hey, I rather like that."
