Breaking the Window
Chapter 10: Family outings
"Is she back yet?! Is she back yet?!" Cissy shouted as she was restlessly shifting from the sofa to the window, then to another window, then back to the sofa, only to rush back to the window. Sat in their common room, located between all three of their rooms, Bellatrix simply watched a relentlessly energetic Cissy with a bemused smirk.
"Are you bouncing?" Bellatrix chuckled. "I do believe you're actually bouncing."
"Oh, be quiet, you rotter," Cissy stuck out her tongue before turning back to glue herself to the window. "I'm excited. I can't believe you're not!"
"I am!" Bellatrix laughed. "But bouncing up and down and shrieking like a concert girl isn't going to get Andie back here any faster! Find something to occupy your time with. It'll pass quicker."
"I just can't!" Cissy wailed and threw herself on one of their sofas, pressing her head against the pillows while letting out a muffled scream.
Though clearly amused, Bellatrix felt that Andie was far more courageous than her to a point that she considered there might be a bit of foolhardy Gryffindor within her: for it was Andie who braved a visit to Muggle inner city Manchester. All on her own. Without her sisters or any wizard to rely upon. If Bellatrix hadn't known that Andie could handle it, she never would allowed her to go and certainly not for a guilty pleasure the sisters shared.
Cissy merrily continued bouncing until she finally announced Andie's return with shriek which almost made her eardrums burst. "THERE SHE IS! THERE SHE IS!"
"Quiet down!" Bellatrix hissed, looking over her shoulder. Of course, Catterborough Woodhouse was so large that it had mostly empty corridors on the best of days, but the laws of the universe would state that if the sisters were doing something they shouldn't, it was increasingly likely that either their parents or Sebastian would be nearby. And even though Andie was now on the premises, she would still have to run a gauntlet before she'd be back at their rooms. So, Cissy did as she was told, sat down while biting her lip and kept as silent as possible. And yet she was still bouncing ever so slightly.
"Seriously, how did they ever let you in Slytherin?" Bellatrix joked, earning herself a stuck out tongue in her general direction.
Thankfully, all worries where for nought as Andie came bursting through the door still wearing her muggle clothing and bearing a grin so broad it almost snapped her face in half. Of course, Cissy was the first to pounce. "Did you get it?" she bounced again. "Didyougetitdidyougetitdidyougetit?!"
Andie said nothing, merely held up a paper bag before fishing out a small muggle vinyl record, slid it out of its cover and held it up. On it was the depiction of a green apple.
"Play it!" Cissy demanded and proceeded to almost drag Andie and Bella along to Andie's room.
"Hey, ow! Watch the hair!" Bellatrix demanded, pulling herself loose from Cissy's grip and sauntered in after her sisters. Andie's room was a lot different than hers or Cissy's. For one, the ceiling was sloped making the room seem a lot smaller, but Andie didn't mind as it made it feel more cozy to her. Adorned with light pastel colours, the room just screamed 'middle sister' as she had chosen it to stand out from Cissy's bright pinks or Bella's darker browns and greys. Andie put down her bag and pulled her record player from under her bed to set it up. After pulling her wand, she aimed it at a painting of four cats and transfigured it into its true form: a concert poster of The Beatles.
Bellatrix smirked. All three of them liked the Beatles. Who could not? In fact, it was their little rebellion: if their parents knew that they were listening to muggle music there'd be hell to pay. Still, this was a little secret the three of them had as sisters. While Andie was setting up her record player, Bellatrix did her part by putting a silencing charm on the room while Cissy bounced rather impatiently on Andie's bed.
While Andie was busy, Bellatrix took the single cover and took a look. "Hey Jude," she said after reading the title.
"Yeah, brand new," Andie beamed. "Just released last week! I wouldn't even have known about if Ted hadn't told me about it."
"Who's Ted?" asked Bellatrix.
"Oh," Andie waved dismissively. "Boy in my year. You wouldn't know him. The important thing is, we now have something ace to add to our collection."
Said collection being a copy of every album and single the Beatles had ever released, cleverly disguised as vinyl records of innocuous and boring wizarding bands. The three sisters sat cross-legged around the record player, the silencing charm allowing for a good volume.
Hey, Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better
Already, she could tell it was a very good song and her sisters were already getting into it... swooning as young teens were wont to do. But Bellatrix... Bellatrix found her mind wandering. The entire song had started to remind her of her own situation: how her carefree life would soon come to an end. How the great times spent with her sisters were finite and fewer in number every day. It hit her like a punch to the gut.
Hey, Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better
For some reason... that made her think of Hermione. She could see her brown tresses floating by in her minds eye, seeing her face floating in front of her. Her smile. The kind of smile on a girl who was always willing to listen. She hadn't talked to her in days now and it was frightening to think on just how much she missed her.
Hey, Jude, don't let me down
You have found her, now go and get her
She shook her head. She shouldn't think these things. Hermione was her friend. And they were literally thirty years apart.
Remember to let her under your skin
Then you'll begin to make it better
Once again, Bellatrix was lost in thought. About her future, Hermione, Lestrange and whatever would come after her ill-fated wedding. When she looked up, she could only smile as the song had whipped up and Andie and Cissy were both loudly singing along with the 'nah, nah nah, nah's. Well, they were easy lyrics, at least, and she chuckled when Cissy still managed to mess them up regardless.
The song finally ended and Andie stopped the player. "That was fantastic!" Andie raved. "But you were being rather quiet, Bella!"
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "I was enjoying that song until you two philistines started crowing along. It's like listening to two hippogryphs mating!"
"Hey!" Cissy pouted.
"Oh, you rotter!" Andie laughed. "You'd better be singing along next time, if you know what's good for you!"
"Again!" Cissy demanded.
"Not yet," said Andie as she held up the magically warmed bag. "I got the other thing too!"
"Doner kebab?!" Cissy asked... another forbidden thing in the house.
"Doner kebab!" Andie grinned and started unpacking.
Bellatrix couldn't help but smile: spending time with her sisters chatting, gossipping and eating junk food while listening to the Beatles on repeat. Yes, this would be another one of those memorable moment spent as sisters. Times which were finite and would never return once lost.
Today had been a good day. Coming to visit her parents had been a wonderful decision on her part. They had spent the entire day together, enjoying everything which London had to offer. Restaurants, fun walks, listening to some of the nutters at the Speaker's Corner in Hyde park, London Aquarium. Today, she had felt like the old Hermione again; curious, full of life and enjoyment.
Well, that ended quickly when it was time to go to bed. Here, in her room, she simply lay staring at the ceiling as sleep refused to come. That sense of soul-crushing loneliness had returned. That sense of abandonment. That sense of having no one.
She hated it.
Oh god, she hated it so much.
No matter what she did, no matter what she wanted, no matter what she told herself, it always relentlessly returned, sometimes tenfold after a good day. Unless she kept her mind of things.
So, that was just what she did. Hermione tried some reading. It didn't help. Then she tried to listen to some music by turning on the radio, but found the UK singles chart as insipid and uninspiring as ever. Finally, she simply threw the blankets off and found her slippers. A few moments later, she was seated at her desk and started scribbling on a notepad. If sleep didn't find her, perhaps working on her herbology thesis might help. Though she had left all her notes at Hogwarts, she could at least work on the intro and the structure of her work.
She got through three paragraphs when, to her chagrin, she realized she had left the radio on. She was about to get up to switch it off until the refrain of some new pop song caught her ear.
Don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing
Hermione frowned. For some reason, that made her think of Bellatrix. Bellatrix, the woman whom had tortured her... and the girl whom had become her vast friend despite the odds. In so many ways, she was still an enigma to her. And, to her own surprise, she found that she missed their conversations.
No.
Her.
Hermione missed her.
Quite a lot, in fact. The thought gave her pause and she put down her pen for a moment. The song continued in the background while Hermione closed her eyes and saw Bellatrix' smiling face. So different from the evil woman she had once faced.
A moment later, Hermione shook her head, tossed her pencil to the desk and walked over to the radio to switch it off.
"What a crap song," Hermione muttered to herself and sauntered back to her desk. There was work to be done, after all.
Bellatrix and her sisters stood at the railing of a large magically warded pen looking upon the Snowdonia mountains of Wales. Both she and her sisters were in awe of the magnificent old Welsh Green which had landed right in front of them. More young wizards and witches came running to the railing to have a look.
Truth be told, Bellatrix had never seen a dragon from this up close before. She could count every scale, see every scar, look him right in the eye.
It was obvious that this old dragon was used to being around humans and was a bit of a show-off. He spread his wings wide, threw his neck up and unleashed a massive ball of flame into the air. Bellatrix, along with the other young ones gathered, let out a gasp in appreciation for this magnificent beast.
So far, the family visit to the Welsh Dragon Sanctuary had been a marvellous success. Even oncle had gone with them: he stood near them at the railing looking at the dragon and then the sketchbook he was holding. The charcoal sped over the page as oncle Achille was working on getting the muscle tone of the dragon's neck just right now that this beast had come in for a close-up.
As family visits went, this one was special in that oncle had joined them. A rare occasion. Perhaps it had something to do with father having business with the Sanctuary head of staff, dragging mother along with him and oncle had been asked by mother to be their chaperon.
Unfortunately, that meant her father hadn't been there with them for the most part.
"Bella!" Cissy yelled and pulled on her purse. "Give me some galleons! I want to give him a treat!"
"Right, right, calm down," Bellatrix said and handed Cissy a few coins. Immediately, her little sister ran to a big red dispenser and inserted the coins. A few moments later, the carcass of a slaughtered pig slid down a funnel and landed right in front of the old dragon. The dragon didn't waste any time, bending its snout down, grabbing the pig to throw it into the air where it deftly caught it and crushed it between his jaws. After his meal, he let out an appreciative bellow and rewarded the crowd with another big ball off fire before taking off.
"Now, that dragon is definitely a show-man," Andie laughed as she used a pair of binoculars to watch him fly off.
After all the excitement, the four of them went into the cafe next to the visitor's center for some tea and scones. Freshly baked, the scones smelled wonderful and, after a liberal application of jam and clotted cream, Bellatrix found out they tasted delicious too. While Cissy and Andie were chatting and raving about their dragon encounter, Bellatrix fished a leather-bound notebook from her purse and folded it open. Though originally meant as a diary, she used it as a notebook to jot down ideas and work on drafts of stories: and today, she had gotten a few ideas on how to work dragons into a story she'd been planning. Her quill diligently in hand, she quickly wrote down the ideas in short incomplete sentences before they had a chance to sink into the misty mires of an eager mind.
"Something you're working on, cherie?" Achille asked.
"Oh, a new story?" Andie asked.
Bellatrix looked up. "No, just some... ideas. Nothing yet."
"Oh, come on, surely there is something you 'ave to share, non?" Achille winked while Andie smiled.
Bellatrix gave the both of them a wary look. "Well, there is something. It's not finished, though, I'm not sure if I should..."
"I don't want to hear a scary story!" Cissy pouted.
"See?" Bellatrix tried.
"Cissy never wants to hear a scary story, because she's a stupid baby," Andie rolled her eyes. "Come on, Bella!"
Bellatrix bit her lip. "I don't know..."
"Come on, we're family. We won't judge," said oncle.
"Are you kidding?" Bellatrix huffed. "You lot are my harshest critics. But... fine! If I don't, I won't hear the end of it all week."
Bellatrix leafed through her book looking for the first draft of a story she'd been working on. The pages it was written on had seen a lot of corrections and words scratched out. When she was done revising, she would copy it to another book where she kept all her final versions, but it wasn't yet ready for that. "Okay. I call this one 'Obsession'."
"It all started when Fraser, my neighbour, tripped over a rock in his backyard. He, like myself, has been a lifelong resident of the township of Cobblepot, a wizard-only community near Somerset. Nothing much happened in our sleepy little town. It is telling that someone tripping over a rock is considered a source of commotion.
'Damn yer eyes,' I heard him yell while hanging up the laundry and came to investigate. He'd been tilling the earth to plant a new batch of roses and had come across an oddly shaped rock. It was obsidian, black as coal and hard as granite. Fraser cursed and cursed as he tried his wand to lift the rock up from his garden and levitate it over his fence. The rock, however, never budged. It was not as if his magic was ineffectual, but rather that it was too large to move: it was then that we realized that what we were seeing was only a small part of it.
'Need any help?' I asked, more out of politeness than anything. Fraser gave me a nod and soon enough, the two of use were digging out the rock. We figured that if we freed it from the soil, the two of us could apply our wands to it.
After about half an hour of digging, we noticed two things. First, the rock was hewn and smooth as silk. Second, there seemed to be no end of it. The top of the rock was shaped as a point and expanded outward slightly as the soil around it was removed."
Bellatrix looked up from her story to see Andie looking at her eagerly, waiting for her to continue. Cissy was cuddled up against Andie while oncle had found inspiration and was sketching. So far, it was all going well.
'Figures', said Fraser with a gruff, defeated voice. 'My bloody house is right on top of a bloody graveyard or somethin'.'
Clearly the two of us wouldn't be enough to dig this thing out. Fraser decided to call upon the help of the townsfolk. No less than an hour later, two of us had become twelve while mrs. Miggins was kindly providing us hard workers with tea and biscuits. We started working in shifts, with one group digging and another doing the wandwork to move the soil away from the yard.
The sun was about to set when we realized we had something special on our hands. As the light of the evening sun shone upon the rock, green magical runes appeared, glowing with faint power. They were runes of the likes none of us had ever seen before and didn't even remotely resembled the iconography our ancestors used.
'There's new magic down there,' Fraser told me and the others. 'I feel it in my bones!'
'New magic'... those words went like a whisper through the entire gathering. Still, it was decided that we would rest for the night and continue the work tomorrow.
I slept rather uneasily, dreams of the rock and runes. Calling out to me. The lure of the new magic. Or is that old new magic? Regardless, when I opened my eyes, I found myself standing next to the rock, shovel still in hand. I had been digging. And it was daylight. All around me, dozens of my fellow witches and wizards were hard at work on freeing the rock from its earthly prison. The entire town was here, including children and the elderly. A hole around the rock had been dug at least ten meters deep, but the end was still not in sight.
Bellatrix looked up again. Cissy was really trembling now, but then again she was a baby who was scared of her own shadow. Andie had her eyes locked on her as she sipped her tea.
I could see what it was then: not a mere rock, but a carved obelisk standing fierce and ominous, covered with runes now glowing an angry green. Its magic still lay far beneath the Earth. I could feel it... and its pull. It wanted us to find it. The obelisk wanted us to benefit from it!
And so we worked. And we worked. And we worked. Around me, the bodies of some of my fellow villagers lay either exhausted or dead. No matter. Their sacrifice will be remembered after we claim the new magic.
'New magic... new magic... new magic...' we all chanted in unison. The obelisk loves us. The obelisk wants to bestow its gifts on us because it loves us. All we have to do is to free it, so we can love it too.
So we dug. And we dug. Until, finally, we found the doorway. Cavernous and ominous, but oddly welcoming. The obelisk stood freed now, proud and fierce with runes aglow. The new magic is ahead of us now and we are ready to step inside as a group. Some of use have gathered the bodies of the fallen so they might benefit even in death.
Yet... part of me hesitates as I take a slight hesitant step into the darkness. A part of me is filled with mortal dread, yet I cannot fathom why. Like a cow that has glimpsed the inside of a slaughterhouse, I cannot grasp the context or nature of my doom, but I know enough to be filled with mortal dread.
But any fear is mercifully stripped away from me with every step taken as the pull of the new magic gets ever stronger.
'New magic... new magic...' we all chant as we all step into the obelisk's loving embrace. And forget everything."
"Whoa," Andie smiled. "That was a good one!"
"Great," Cissy muttered. "A mind-controlling obelisk. I'll be having nightmares all week!"
"That was good, cherie," replied Achille.
Bellatrix bit her lip a little. "It's, uhm, just a few scribblings."
"Don't be modest, Bella," Andie chuckled. "It doesn't suit you."
All the while Achille had been working his sketchbook again and turned it around to show the girls: a quick and dirty sketch of a group of people working hard to dig out a rather ominous looking obelisk out of the earth. Bellatrix smiled when she saw it, getting somewhat excited that her oncle might be turning that sketch into a painting later.
Unfortunately, all bliss quickly came to an end when their parents entered the cafe. Their business apparently concluded, Cygnus and Druella came in. Unfortunately, her father took only one look at the book in Bellatrix' hand and the sketch on the table and turned towards Achille, who swiftly rose from the table and stood between them. Cygnus' voice as low and filled with anger. "Why am I not surprised to find you filling my daughters' heads with nonsense?"
"Nonsense?" Achille crossed his arms. "Creativity. Enjoyment. Are these nonsense now, hm?"
"By Merlin's beard, you are a waste of space, Achille!" Cygnus roared. "You sire no offspring! You don't expand magical knowledge! All you do is paint all bloody day long without a goddamn care in the world!"
Bellatrix grit her teeth, narrowed her eyes and shot forward. "That's not true! Oncle is a celebrated artist! He creates beautiful things! What have you ever created?!"
Oncle held out his arm in front of Bellatrix's chest and slowly herded her back, away from her father. "Cherie!" he spoke, silencing her.
Though momentarily stricken by Bellatrix' words, Cygnus merely sighed and shook his head. "Again your nasty habit of poisoning my own children's minds against me rears its ugly head. I shouldn't be surprised," Cygnus sighed.
Unfortunately, despite Achille keeping the two of them apart, Bellatrix stood close enough for her father to make a grab for her book. "Hey!" Bellatrix protested while her father held it.
"This needs to stop!" her father demanded while he held up the book, just out of reach. "Bellatrix, you must focus on your future and not drown yourself in idle fantasies! Or you'll end up just like him! A useless layabout who wastes his days locked away alone in an attic globbing paint on a bit of canvas!"
Bellatrix almost chuckled: her father had no idea just how appealing what he had just described sounded to her. Regardless, that notebook contained all her recent work and plenty of story ideas and she was loathe to lose it. She was about to plead for its return when oncle Achille took a few steps towards her father until he was so close to him that they were mere inches away. There was a calm yet dangerous look on Achille's face, a look Bellatrix had never seen before.
"Give... it... back..." oncle Achille hissed through clenched teeth.
"J'en ai assez!" Druella shouted at the top of her lungs. "Can't we 'ave a simple family outing without the two of you 'aving a go at each other?! Just once?! Cygnus, give Bellatrix 'er book back!"
"Ella!"
"Do it!" Druella demanded. "Mon dieu, it's just a few stories! Bellatrix writing some frightening tales isn't going to ruin her life! We both know it's not about her stories either, Cygnus!"
Cygnus, now fairly enraged, thrust the flat of the book into Bellatrix's chest and stomped out of the cafe, apparently to calm down. Bellatrix took hold of her prize and quickly put it back in her purse while oncle and her mother looked at each other. "Achille," Druella sighed. "Must you always antagonize Cygnus so?"
"Hm," Achille rolled his eyes. "Maybe if he'd stop being an English asshole, I'd stop taunting 'im."
"I'd... I'd better go after him," Druella sighed. "Watch the girls a bit longer, non?"
And so the four of them sat the table in silence for a bit, the outburst having put a bit of a damper on the cheer. Cissy was actually trembling a bit, while Andie stared in her tea. Bellatrix turned to her oncle. "Why did you let him yell at you like that?" she asked.
Achille chuckled. "Eh. 'Appens when two people are as different as I and your father," he said. "'E's right. I never 'ad children. Never wanted to. Too much 'assle. That's fine in France, but English pure-bloods rather look down on that. Worse thing is, is that 'e's doing all of this out love and wants the best for you three... and this is apparently what 'e thinks is the best for you. Your father fears 'aving me around will 'ave you three turn into me."
"That's not so bad," Andie replied.
Achille chuckled. "Don't let your father 'ear you say that."
Bellatrix let out a sigh. Now that the commotion was over, she sank back into the booth and popped the last bit of scone in her mouth. After crewing for a bit, she shook her head. "So much for our fun family gathering today."
London Zoo was just as Hermione remembered it. When she was a little girl, she loved coming here with parents or the few friends she had, staring wide eyed and full of awe at the elephants or the giraffes, pointing at the lions or laughing at the monkeys.
Nostalgia was a powerful force and being here with her parents, surrounded in a place she had loved in her youth, was making her feel as if she was a human being again after the major setback she had had last night.
Hermione enjoyed leaning on the railing to watch into the kangaroo enclosure. As the animals hopped around, the young witch couldn't help but smile at their antics. With the exception of one bad moment, for the past few days she had spent with her parents she felt like she had been slowly crawling up out of a pit to take a gasp of breath as some sense of normality.
It was the way she felt whenever she was talking to Trix, oddly enough. Strange how it had taken this experience at the zoo with her parents to realize that. For now, however, she wouldn't question either and would simply enjoy the feeling for as long as it lasted. Truth be told, part of her never wanted this day to ever end.
They moved to the reptile house, undoubtedly passing the enclosure where Harry had first discovered his magical abilities. Unlike other most girls her age, she had never minded her cold-blooded scaly friends. As a child, she had begged her parents for a bearded dragon as a pet. Unfortunately between her mother's fear of anything with scales and her father allergies, a pet of any kind had never been in the cards while growing up.
It was getting near closing time now and she and her parents were slowly moving towards the exit which, conveniently and cynically, forced them to move through the gift-shop first. They would have dinner at a fancy Japanese restaurant and then maybe watch a film at home. All-in-all, today was a very good day.
"It's good to see some colour come back to your cheeks, puppet," her father smiled when they stopped at the penguin enclosure for a moment. Together they watched the birds as they glided through the water below them.
"I've been doing a little better the past few days," replied Hermione.
"I am loathe to send you back to that horrible school," said her father.
"Jack..." her mother started.
Her father ignored her mother. "Won't you stay with us a little longer?"
Hermione shook her head. "I do have to return to school. Finish my coursework. You know I can never leave anything unfinished."
"Why not?" Jack muttered. "Your other friends did. When they left you there."
"That's not fair dad," said Hermione, her voice sincere. "They have lives of their own and they went through the same thing I did. I don't begrudge them anything."
Hermione knew that was a lie. Hermione knew that she felt abandoned, in a somewhat irrational way. Her father seemed pensive, but Hermione had one more thing to add. "Besides, I won't be alone," Hermione started as the three of them moved towards the gift shop. "There is... someone."
"Oh?" asked her mother, her interest obviously piqued "Someone we have met?"
"No," Hermione shook her head. "There's this girl. It's... complicated."
"A girl, hm?" her father chuckled.
"Not like that!" Hermione admonished him with a brief stare. "She's... a friend. We talk often. She... she and I are a lot alike in many ways and very different in others. I rather look forward to talking to her again. I always do."
She couldn't help but notice her parents exchanging another look, causing Hermione to narrow her eyes. "It's not like that!" she pressed home.
"It's alright if it is, sweetie," said her mother, but a harsh glare from Hermione silenced further discussion.
"Well, at least it's good to know you won't feel alone," said her father. "Having a friend or otherwise will really help you."
Her father hit it right on the nail there: ever since she had met Trix, the younger Bellatrix, she had been feeling a lot better. And maybe, just maybe, she really was helping herself by helping Trix. The thought alone brought a smile to her face, a little something that didn't go unnoticed by her parents just as they stepped through the gift-shop and were met with terribly overpriced knick-knacks. Around them, children were yelling at their parents for stuffed of plastic animals. Hermione didn't really see anything which captured her fancy, but she did want to have a reminder of the fun day. Perhaps one of those ballcaps with the London Zoo logo on it or one of the small coin purses. Something useful too.
"I got something nice for you," Hermione heard and almost had her jaw drop to the ground when she saw her father holding a life-sized plush Siberian tiger in his hands.
"Dad!"
"You've always wanted one when you were little," said her father. "Now I'm getting you one. A little late, certainly, but better late than never."
"Dad, that thing costs three-hundred quid!"
"So? Is me own money, innit?" said her father and pushed the tiger in her hands, almost knocking her over in fact. The tiger was very soft and fluffy, but also quite heavy. "Now you'll have something to cuddle at night, even if your girlfriend won't."
"Trix is not my girlfriend!" Hermione protested, almost involuntary rubbing her cheek against the soft fluffy tiger while her father paid for it at the till. Her expression softened quickly. "Thanks dad, mum. For the tiger and for spending the week with me. I really needed it."
"Next time, bring your friend," said her mother. "We'd love to meet her."
Hermione wasn't quite sure how to tell her that her friend didn't even live in the same time period as she did. Still, she supposed she appreciated the sentiment. "Perhaps, one day," replied Hermione as she left the Zoo holding her tiger in front of her. "Uhm, dad, do we have somewhere to put this thing?"
"Hm," said her father. "I was about to say we put it in the boot until we get back from the restaurant, but I just remembered we came here by tube. Did not think this through, did I?"
"Let's just get an extra seat at the table when we get to the restaurant," her mother helpfully suggested while Hermione slung the tiger over her shoulder, almost causing her to tip over.