A/N: Here's your regular weekly update! Don't forget, fifteen reviews on any part of the series, you'll get bonuses on both in-progress sections!

-C

Remus poured the tea in his office, allowing Rose to fix her own, as she always did. She pulled out her notes, their preparations for an upcoming meeting with the Heads of Houses, to be followed by a general staff meeting.

"Aeson has a complaint," she said, flipping through.

"Aeson's always got a complaint," he said, smiling. "Was it about Xanthia?"

"Yes."

"It's always about Xanthia."

Rose grinned.

Sometimes, it was about Caroline's other children, but Xanthia was in the same year as Crispin, not only his child, but also in his House.

"I tell you what I'll do," he said, fed up with the absurdity and not looking forward to another year with this mess on his hands. "Tuesday, isn't it?"

"Hmm? It's Sunday."

"No, the sixth years have Aeson Tuesday after lunch?"

"Yes," she said, pulling out the chart of the class schedules. Remus had streamlined them considerably, but even so, it was a massive ugly mess, making it all work together with so many people and groups.

"Tell Aeson he'll have lunch with you and me that day. Don't say why. I'll call Crispin and Xanthia to my office. I'd appreciate if the children forced the adult to act like an adult. Next order of business."

"Filius wants a special dispensation to separate a dorm into two rooms, temporarily."

"The twins?"

"Hmm."

Remus rubbed his brow and groaned.

"Is every order of business about Sirius's descendants?"

Rose gave him a sympathetic smile before she glanced down the list and said, "No, James asked for Sunday off and was wondering if you would step in and cover his classes."

Remus groaned again. He hated forcing them into Sunday classes, but even with adding an after-dinner slot, it was still necessary for certain teachers, like James, to take weekend courses on. It was almost always older students, but he hated it.

"Sunday," he said, rubbing his forehead. "Hasn't he got his office hours on Sunday?"

"One hour," she said, flipping through to James's master schedule. "I think he would have asked for Saturday, but he's got two hours then, and the staff meeting. I expect he knew you'd say no to that."

"He's right," Remus sighed. "Look, I can take it. What is it, Ravenclaw fifth years?"

"Double Ravenclaw fifth years and the seventh years before lunch," she said, "taking out his post-lunch office hour. Fifth year Slytherins before dinner. Dueling Club after dinner, of course. A day off isn't unreasonable, after all. He's got such a packed schedule. And his son's birthday is coming up, isn't it?"

"Relatively soon," Remus said, not totally sure what month he was in, anymore. "You and Aeson don't need my help at the Dueling Club, surely?"

Rose grinned and winked, and then she said, "Now, surely you'd have more fun sticking your hand back into the club than going to a gala with the Minister."

She wasn't wrong, and Remus glanced at his diary, running his finger along the schedule for the coming Sunday. He didn't want to go to the gala.

"Oh, go on, then," he said with a grin. "Give me your notes. I'll be there."

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Cedric peeled shredded lettuce off his sandwich as Draco sat beside him, unexpected, in the middle of the Ministry cafeteria.

Well, not the middle. It was a cordoned off area for Department Heads, to avoid their being pestered by people about petitions and such during their very short lunch breaks, should they choose to take them in the cafeteria. But still.

"Come down to mingle with the commoners, Minister?" Cedric teased.

"Congratulations on your engagement," Draco said dryly, sitting down. "You said you had a question for me."

"Yeah, our friends on the continent," Cedric said, setting aside another slice of lettuce. "Germany and France, in particular. They want to call in some favors."

"Favors for what?"

"Six years, Draco," Cedric said significantly, not wanting to mention Cynthia's name in public. Eyebrows had yet to be raised over her disappearance, and he wasn't about to change that, now. "They've been patient."

Draco's eyes flashed, and he asked what those people wanted.

"Madam Potter's efforts have drawn a great deal of international attention. They want aid in setting up Health departments in their own countries. Copying our best work, of course. Just the structure, not our research, obviously. I thought you might want to set up something with Madam Potter. I can never get ahold of her. The woman's busier than God."

"God?" Draco said, blinking. "When have you started using Muggle expressions?"

"Cormac used to say it," Cedric said with a frown. He thought of Cormac often since his attempted suicide. He should have thought of him before. "Regardless."

"I'll have a word with her," Draco said, narrowing his eyes. "Tell Adra congratulations from me, will you?"

"Tell her yourself," Cedric said, grinning as Draco's food was brought without him ordering. Perks of being the Minister of Magic, he supposed.

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Rose showed up for the Dueling Club that evening about twenty minutes early, about ten minutes after dinner was cleared by the House-Elves. Zenia, one of Caroline and Damon's, had been a stellar Duelist the previous year, but went into the Auror training program instead of Rhea's path. And while Marly Prewett and Jemma Lestrange were excellent duelists, Melantha was easily the most promising current recruit. And her poor twin, while talented, was clearly less talented in this particular area.

"I hear our headmaster is joining us next week," Aeson said when she entered, grinning. James was rearranging the tables and setting up the stage. "Should be fun."

"You're not demoing with him."

"Why not?" Aeson said with a wink. "I owe him a hex. You know he's screwing my mother."

James snorted and Rose shook her head, and when James turned, he said, "He may not be a contagious lycanthrope anymore, Aeson, but I assure you, Remus Lupin is still not the one you want to make a fight with. And your mum's a big girl. If she wants to have a thing with Remus, I'd think that was her affair, wouldn't you?"

Rose gave Aeson a stern look, not nearly as good as his wife's stern look, but close enough to keep him in line. He might be family, but sometimes he was more trouble than he was worth.

/-/

Demelza did not think often on her childish crushes on people who went on to marry other people. Most days, she wouldn't have recalled she ever had a crush on Damon Prewett, even if someone came up and reminded her it existed.

Despite having a relationship with Dennis Creevey now, she wasn't really sure she called it a relationship, and many days she forgot about it altogether.

It had all the makings of something, of course. The sort of thing, she supposed, where a guy and a girl would go steady for a while, maybe eventually go out in non-Muggle public, maybe spend the nights at each other's flats. Eventually, they'd have four toothbrushes between them, two at each place, and sheets would pick up the scent of two instead of the scent of one. If a guy decides to propose, then he does, and if he doesn't then it falls apart and Demelza vows to wash her sheets more often and relinquishes a toothbrush, melting down the left-behind spare into a puddle of plastic to be Vanished.

She wasn't sure exactly where they were on the timeline of this sort of thing, but she knew they definitely weren't at the four-toothbrush stage. Somewhere before being seen together in non-Muggle public. He went to so many family events with his brother's in-laws, it was like he was married to an imaginary member of the Prewett family.

Probably beautiful, Demelza supposed. Somehow, they were all beautiful. She wasn't anything to sniff at, but imaginary women were undoubtedly more beautiful.

She asked Dennis, as they curled up on his sofa, whether he wanted to go to a park or something, have a picnic or something, maybe go to a café, and he said sure. She asked if he wanted to go to a variety of places, listed of dates and places where someone they knew might see them.

Testing the waters, she would have called it.

He thought about the dates and places and finally said, "None of those would work. I've got a thing with the Prewetts, then. But we'll do something."

Eventually, she supposed, she would melt his spare toothbrush. Probably. But they had to have four toothbrushes between them, first, and even that was seeming difficult. Maybe she was rushing things.

/-/

Brontes didn't laugh as his wife told him about his brother. It was hard to laugh at Aeson, most of the time. Instead, he traced a finger up her bare spine as she changed out of her robes, and she paused at his touch. He exhaled against her cool skin, letting her feel the warm moist breath before he pressed a kiss on the small of her back.

It wasn't long, mercifully, until she'd quite forgotten Aeson, and her complete attention was on him. The last thing he wanted was to hear all about the running of Hogwarts again. He wanted his wife.

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Joceline Lestrange sat in her office in the wee hours of the morning, at the Godric's Hollow Branch of Potter & Whitby's Apothecaries. She liked her job, liked to brew, even liked the neighborhood she lived in. She had a flat above her shop, and although she could have afforded a nicer house, or had her family get her a fancy place, she appreciated the freedom of this flat, the normality of it. It was she and Jowan, one of her favorite cousins, who had suggested to Cynthia and Columbine they ought to get their own place. Joceline was glad Cynthia's father didn't know she'd had anything to do with it, as he was devastated, but she was pleased for the pair.

Freedom, Joceline thought, was a lovely thing.

/-/

James watched Lily undress and he breathed in and out as steadily as he could. Watching his wife undress was one of his favorite things, even this side of sixty.

"Remus said you're taking Sunday off," she said, not facing him.

He bit his lip. He was already thinking of ways he could convince Lily to take that day off, and maybe they could do a second honeymoon, something far away, and long as humanly possible. He had all kind of ideas about what he would do once they got away, but not about how he could get her to do it, so he dropped the idea.

"Things I need to do," he said, evasively. "Have you talked with Kitty lately?"

"Kitty?" she asked, pulling on a nightgown. "I'm sure you've talked with her since I last did. Why?"

He hummed, not wanting to show his hand. He'd hoped Catherine would be a bit more prompt, headlong about the thing, like her father would have done. Maybe he should have talked to Caroline first. Caroline was perhaps the truly impulsive one of those children, and she would have bullied her sister into action.

Of course, he'd been a bit worried about Caroline's impulsive reaction burning a whole on the earth where England had been, but he wasn't thinking about that as he traced shapes between his wife's shoulder blades.

"We should do something with them, soon."

"I'm busy Sunday."

"You're always busy," he sighed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her body close to his. She relaxed into his hold, and James breathed in deeply. She had a wonderful floral scent. He wondered what they would do for Harry's upcoming birthday. "I want us to do picnics, like we used to."

"Narcissa wasn't dying then," Lily said with a sigh. "Kitty wasn't running the world's apothecaries. Cynthia was a little girl."

Cecilia was alive, she did not say, but the words lingered in the air. James just hummed. Everything was different then. That's why he wanted it back.

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Cynthia showed the flat to Gareth first, taking him out to breakfast and then showing him the flat on her Monday off. He was impressed, asked when they would move in, and then rubbed his jaw repeatedly, obviously thinking about something else.

"How much does a place like this cost?" he asked, almost sheepishly, as he traced his fingers along the countertops.

"Depends on where you're getting it," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Why, are you thinking of moving out of Grimmauld Place? London's quite expensive, even in the wizarding world. Even in our terms."

"Coreen doesn't really care for London," he said sheepishly, and Cynthia squealed.

She kissed her cousin's blushing face and forced him into the nearest chair, making him relate all his thoughts and ideas about getting a place with Coreen. It wasn't an engagement, he said firmly, although she ignored this. Gareth was like his father, very old-fashioned and sweet and methodical. If he was talking moving in together, a proposal was sure to follow.

"You could always move in at the same building," Cynthia teased. "We could all do dinner together, take turns at each other's places. I mean, Coreen does dinner at home, right, not at the school?"

"Except for the feasts, yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "D'you reckon they've got an opening here? It does seem like a nice building."

Cynthia really didn't know, and she knew it would be quite a commute for both, but she liked the idea of having them around, and she knew it would be in their price range. Cynthia said she'd put him in touch with her estate agent, and she thought about having a little word with the superintendent, too, just to be on the safe side.

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Nothing much resembling a gap existed in James's schedule, so Remus squeezed himself into the little Transfiguration classroom as the fifth year Gryffindors were leaving, and he gave Davena—Aeson and Ourania's youngest—a little wave before he closed and locked the door behind him. Jason was staring at a photograph on his desk and Remus narrowed his eyes.

"Same room Minerva taught us in, you know," James said, not looking up. "All those years ago."

"I recall you saying she never taught you a thing," Remus said with a wry smile. "That you and Sirius just came by it all naturally. Sirius loved that."

James exhaled heavily and stood, turning away from the photograph. "If it's about Sunday, Remus."

"No," Remus said. "No, I worry about you, James. You've got all contemplative in your old age."

"I think that's what happens, when the world catches up to us," James said, rubbing his eyes. "Thought it did all that years ago, you know. When everything happened with Harry and Kitty. And then we lost Celia. And then we almost lost Cyn. All this loss, Remus, it's wearing."

Remus nodded, supposing he was thinking about the Malfoys. In a strange way, they were part of James's extended family, because they were part of Catherine's extended family. James said he would see Remus at lunch, if that was all. Remus said he supposed it was, and he waited until James had left to cross to the other side of the desk.

The frame was actually divided and held two pictures. One was of the Marauders at school, one where Peter held the camera, so he wasn't in it. The other side was of Sirius holding newborn Catherine, and James holding baby Harry, who was reaching with curiosity for the younger child. Remus frowned at these photographs and wondered what the weight was on James's shoulders, and why he didn't feel he could share that burden.

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Cedric sat with Cormac, smoothing the sheet a few times, frowning. He wondered what would drive a man to try to kill himself. He wondered this often, staring at Cormac's face. Especially a man with a good job, a sweet girlfriend (a string of them), and a long family legacy to boost his reputation. But then, Cedric had seen with the Blacks and the Potters how a family legacy could be a double-edged sword.

"You know," he said, as he saw Cho pass by the open door, "if you ever opened your eyes, I'd say you were milking this, prettiest Healer in the whole of England. You always did have an eye for that kind of thing." He scratched the end of his nose. "But then, I guess you don't have a way to appreciate it now. I've got work for you, lots of it, when you get back out. You will get out. I have faith that you will."

Cedric sighed, rubbing his jaw and smoothing the sheet again.

"You've got to get out, anyway. You need to be at my wedding. I haven't even had a chance to tell you, but I'm marrying, weirdly enough. Adrasteia Lestrange. Funny thing, that, isn't it? Too good for me, anyway." He sighed, leaning back in the chair. "You have to wake up, because you haven't even teased me for marrying Catherine Potter's cousin. Come to that, very few people have. I expect most of them have forgotten the hash I made of that whole thing, but you never would have. I made a hash of everything back then."

The sound of a throat clearing, and he looked up to see Cho narrowing her eyes at him, leaning in the doorway.

"Visiting hours are over, Mr. Diggory," she said tightly, and he nodded, collecting his hat from the table and standing. On his way past her, she said, "Congratulations, by the way. Your engagement."

She sounded sincere, so he thanked her, and he said he'd be back as soon as he could to check on Cormac's condition. She said nothing, but he glanced back and she was frowning at the invalid he'd just left. He wondered how much she'd heard, and what she was thinking of when he said he'd messed everything up.

A/N: So, Cynthia and Columbine have moved out, Cedric has a lot of weight on his shoulders, and James and Remus balance running a school with their personal lives and burdens.

Review Prompt: Apart from the main plots centering around Catherine's search for answers and the illness of the Malfoy women, what's your favorite plotline thus far?

Q&A:

Q: What is Harry's career now? (Jonstark1995)

A: Just to clarify, Harry's still a house-husband. With Cyn moved out, that might puzzle or worry some of you, but he's still got four dogs about, and he'll have his hands fuller soon enough, I promise. He's happy, anyway. By this time in his life, he'd have retired from Quidditch and he believes this would be where he would be, anyway.

-C