Squib 31 Summer 1976
Speaking of Dumbledore, he was walking the corridor to Minerva's office. He wanted to look at the List of Names that had finally been sent Letters. The hallway looked odd. Hadn't there been a nicely matched set of chairs and a carpet making a seating area here by her door? When he entered, he thought he had the wrong room. The room was bare, except for the long table by the window. It was completely stacked with the paperwork they would need later this Summer, which was a relief. There was the scroll with the Names, which he picked up and duplicated for study. Then he spotted a castle elf under the table, scrubbing the floor. "Elf, where are all the other things that were in this room?"
The elf squeaked, "Miss Kitty ordered ALL of her things were to be cleaned and packed up so she could sort them easily. While her things are up, she wants the rooms scrubbed, repainted, polished as suitable. She also said we are to be very careful of this table and everything on it! Youse be careful walking on the wet floors, very slippery!"
"Where are all the papers to be filed? There was a huge stack!"
"Miss Kitty had everything filed! They is in the proper file rooms or delivered. It was lovely work that took us elves days! Miss Kitty is so good about sharing work!"
Well, that was all right. He headed up the tower to see if Filius was back. He wasn't. All of his things were gone as well, and the elves were cleaning this set of rooms much like they were Minerva's. The elves repeated the order to clean and pack everything and then refurbish the rooms. Did they do this every year? Perhaps they only did so when the occupants were out of the castle? He could see the shadow-marks on the wall where some paintings had hung. He went back to his own office to think about the list of names. His rooms also seemed less cluttered, as though the elves were doing a little cleaning here as well.
Even Fawkes was missing from his perch, probably down in the kitchens begging fruit. That bird was a hopeless mooch! He'd give the elves rides for fruit. He clearly liked children, even was known to have rescued several from places they should not have been. He always delivered them to the Hospital Wing, healed their injuries, and was known to sing fretful, feverish children to sleep at night. He had cried over Remus many times, which had amazed Belby. He often helped Poppy or the Healers. Dumbledore encouraged people to think Fawkes was his Familiar, but the bird was actually an original inhabitant of the Forest, far older than the Castle, reborn as a chick every few years on a Burning Day. The bird had been here first, had seen the castle built, and for whatever reason, moved in. Fawkes knew his name, and even answered to it if he felt like it (especially if fruit was involved). Godric had installed the perch in the tower as a sign of respect and welcome. Albus was not the first to choose Fawkes Tower for his office and residence.
As Dumbledore settled in to compare the list of names to the private notes he had in the hidden notebooks he had pulled out of his hidden drawer, the Floo flared, indicating an incoming call. First he hollered for Minerva to answer it, but then he realized she was gone, as was everyone else. He was alone - a situation he preferred when he worked on his notebooks. He sighed, and decided he had better answer the thing. The symbol of the DMLE was glowing in the green flame, indicating it might be important. Crouch rarely called him unless Bagnold had something. Come to think of it, Crouch had just left the Graduation with his wife and son. That boy was very smart – it was too bad he had to split them apart, but Crouch was really too good at his job! The DMLE was becoming troublesome. Only one way to find out who was calling...
At King's Cross, where it was dark and raining, as usual, Sev was met by his father on the train side of the wall, much to his surprise! "Where's Mum?"
"She's fine, the girls are fine. They are visiting her mother for a few days. You and I are bachelors again. I graduated yesterday and already have a new job lined up, so we will be moving. We are going to put the furniture and boxes in a storage locker in Evan's warehouse while we wait for your grades, and then we will go house hunting. Oh, here are your 'A' level results – very good scores! We'll celebrate with a pizza tonight!"
A station attendant quickly slapped tracking charms on both men. She could see that Sev's wand no longer bore the Trace, an obvious sign of having passed his OWLs. Sev's surprisingly light trunks and scant contents bore quite a few, but he seemed likely to put those into storage while they were packing the house. She worked her way down the train, handing down baggage, being helpful, and slapping tracking charms on anyone whose wand didn't have a Trace. She wasn't the one following the charms, so she didn't notice that those two were canceled before they left the platform.
Lily also was met by her Father. "There you are! Hurry, we need to catch another train! I'm taking you to see our new home! It needs quite a bit of fixing up before we move in, but we are good at that! Petunia is going to be taking 'Landscape Architecture' at the Uni while I get my new shop set up. She says she's going to do the gardens simply for this year, and then work them up as she learns. Here are your 'A' levels, almost as good as hers! Very good, considering you are two years younger! You have some college offers waiting on my desk. We'll need to look them over when we get your grades to decide if you want to go straight into college now or wait, maybe finish those optional two years at the Art school? Oh, and your Mum is going on about kittens again. We may need to get her one, though why she wants a kitten underfoot when we have Harry grabbing everything I don't know!"
Warned by the 'kitten' comment, Lily kept her comments general. A porter, passing out trolleys, saw that her Trace was gone off her wand, and put tracking charms on both people as they loaded her trolley. They passed Sev and Tobias on the way out, but no one said anything. Sev and Lily were looking rather cold at each other. Lily and Harold knew perfectly well there were trackers, but the waited until they switched trains again before canceling them.
The new house was run-down, but in a park-like neighborhood with huge yards. The fenced gardens were wide and shady. Best yet, Lily and Petunia would have their own bedrooms – twin rooms at the back of the house, separated by a shared full bath. They also shared a balcony that ran the full width of the house. There was some roof damage where a tree had been struck by lightning and fallen on the veranda. The tree crew was there removing it when they arrived. Roofers had already been arranged, as well as floor finishers. Plumbers were going to update all of the pipes, installing new fixtures everywhere. Then the painters would come in, using the same colors and designs they had in the old house. By Fall the house would not look the same!
They went home, where they found Petunia helping their mother by taking their brother to the Park. He was a runner, laughing when he tumbled, only to run in a different direction when he got up.
Grades arrived in only a few days, much earlier than most years. The Evans declared happily that they would take an early vacation! Everything was packed up in the warehouse, and the key to the house left with a Realtor. The shop was already leased out. "Where are we going on vacation, Dad?"
"It's a surprise! I'll tell you when we get there!" The Watcher tried to slap a few more trackers on the family from the next booth at the tea shop, but she already knew they just didn't stick very well. As she feared, they were on the booth but not the people. She managed to follow them into London, but lost them at the airport. She would have to find them when they got back, or possibly when Lily went back to Hogwarts. Lily's trunk was in that warehouse, so she would come after it.
When she got back to Cokesworth, the Snapes were also gone. None of the people on her list from Manchester Trade were home. Everyone seemed to have gone on vacation. She'd have to check back once a week.
Minerva and Minnie, in Corsica, met their closest neighbors. They had met families with children, but this young couple had none. Nick and his wife Penny took care of his Grandparents, who were on a cruise. Now they were taking a break at their family cottage. They were looking for teaching jobs for Fall (Art and Home Ec.) Since Minerva was not staying in Corsica, they were nice to talk to but she had other things on her mind. She had to pack for Egypt's hot climate. Minnie had outgrown all of her Summer clothes. A week later, they flew to Cairo to meet the rest of the family.
The family had one question, "What happened to your hair? You look SO much younger!"
"My old boss thought I looked too young, so he insisted I dye it dark. I've been letting it grow out my natural color, though I hid it with temporary dyes until I could scrub most of it out! I also wore high heels, padded shoulders, high collars, and pinned my hair up so I looked taller. I have retired; I can be myself. Yes, I really AM your Great-Aunt, but remember I was the youngest and my oldest brothers were old enough to be my father!"
Cairo was noisy and hot and so humid it was hard to breathe, a bustling modern city on the Delta. The cruise up the Nile was restful, cool and breezy. Riding camels to visit tombs, pyramids, Thebes and Memphis was a lot of fun! The Valley of the Kings was depressing, absolutely packed with tourists though Minervas' 'connections' managed to have them visiting several 'new' sites. The family was surprised to find out she spoke fluent Arabic, which was helpful! A robed Sheikh intercepted them at Thebes and was quite persistent. It turned out he was fascinated by their shining red hair, and he made a serious offer to buy little Minnie to become a wife for one of his sons. They turned him down. When he figured out she belonged to Minerva, who was a widow, he offered to marry Minerva himself. He was rich, he only had two other wives, and he loved that hair. The family stayed close to Minnie and Minerva for the rest of the trip, not allowing them to go anywhere alone.
After visiting the restored temples of Aswan they took a secret train into the 'uncharted forest' to visit the Ituri Dragon Reserve. The staff there encouraged the rumors of 'dinosaurs in the swamps' and 'sightings of pteranodon,' which were easier to manage than dragon sightings. The swamps and forests were too thick for most adventurers, one of the last truly wild places on Earth. Most of the cousins had never seen a dragon or a dinosaur, and were cheerfully willing to believe in either.