A/N: Hello everyone! Apologies for disappearing off the face of the earth with no warning. Now that I can safely look at screens for extended periods again, we're picking up exactly where we left off. Sincerest thanks to everyone who commented or messaged inquiring about my vanishing act (I'm fine now!), as well as to all of the new readers who have been leaving awesome comments about their fave parts of the story + things they'd love to see going forward. You all are the brightest parts of my weeks!

Just to be safe, I am only guaranteeing ONE weekly update on Monday's for the foreseeable future (not trying to restrain my eyes, plus I have to catch up on missed work). However, I am anticipating 2x a week at random and then amping it back up to be consistently 2 posts per week again in a few months. Cheers everyone!


January 2, 1982

Chateau Black, France

Cassiopeia Black tapped her quill on the table irritably. "This puzzle seems to be getting more complicated every day- is there no end to the number of new obstacles that will appear before we reach my objective?"

Perched on her tiny stool in the corner, Pip shrugged away her Mistress' irritation. "Missy Cassiopeia did say that this project could take years."

"Well, yes, but I wasn't quite anticipating this many moving pieces. It's like trying to play chess, and go, and shogi at the same time," the Black matriarch huffed as she slashed her signature across the bottom of a letter to Andromeda Tonks. "And maybe exploding snap, too."

"That's because Missy Cassiopeia was going and finding extra trouble," Pip said mildly, no trace of pity in her squeaky voice. "First Missy Cassiopeia was supposed to take over from her cousin. Then she was supposed to be fixing the family name. But somehow she is-,"

"Yes, yes, Pip. I know. Somehow I have gotten my fingers into more pots than I can count."

Standing, Pip traded out the complete letter to Andromeda for a yet blank parchment addressed to Augusta Longbottom. "Missy Cassiopeia has not yet received a status update from her odd nephew."

"Which one? Oh- you mean Alphard? Give him a few more days- if we hear nothing…."

"Pip is knowing what to do to handle that." Pip smiled a bit grimly, glancing out the window towards her beloved garden.

"Pip?"

"Yes, Missy Cassiopeia?"

"Are there very many more letters left to respond to today? I quite think I need a moment to evaluate the information we have currently and confirm our trajectory-,"

"Missy Cassiopeia must be finishing all of her letters- Pip was only bringing the important ones." the house elf skimmed through the stack of parchment left in front of her. "Missy Cassiopeia only needs to respond to three more letters."

Cassiopeia sighed theatrically and slumped so heavily across the table that, had her mother been alive, she would have been hexed with a backboard for months.

"Missy Cassiopeia cannot move to the next phase of her project if she does not finish her letters," Pip wheedled, moving closer to tap the still-blank letter to Augusta with one finger.

Cassiopeia, who normally quite enjoyed her house elf's sneaky cajoling, remained resolutely face down on the table.

"Missy Cassiopeia seems to feel awful today," Pip muttered loudly to herself, eyes narrowing on her mistress' form when nothing happened after several long moments. "Pip is going to need to get out the pepper up potion, and if her mistress is feeling so down and distraught she must also be taking an Invigorating Elixir, and fish oils, and-"

Cassiopeia's head popped off the table like a rocket. "I am perfectly fine, you doddy elf!"

"And if that is not working then Pip will have to be making her only veggie biscuits for the next month to make sure that the issue isn't lack of fiber-,"

"That's just cruel," Cassiopeia muttered, looking nearly as green around the gills as the kale biscuit monstrosities her house elf had forced upon her not long ago.

"And if that is not working, then Missy Cassiopeia will just have to stop plotting with all sorts of people at strange hours of the night because the lack of sleep is affecting her health- and Pip's job is to take care of Missy Cassiopeia and her health."

"Morganna, Pip- I absolutely do not plot with all sorts of people at strange hours! Only Isla. And maybe Marius if you look at less strange hours of the day. Also, when did I ever order you to look after my health? Dodgy old girl, you do it all of your own accord!"

"Missy Cassiopeia was telling Pip to take care of everything else- her health is everything else!"

"I suppose it could be argued that everything includes health, but...,"

Pip affixed her mistress with a stern look. "Pip is knowing how much work Missy Cassiopeia has been doing, and Pip is knowing it has been very hard work. But Pip is also knowing that Missy Cassiopeia has much more work to do. So Missy Cassiopeia must finish her letters, take her medicine, and return to her project."

Cassiopeia brightened considerably at her house elf's rather lackadaisical compliment, and sat back up in her chair. "Three more letters, you say?"

"Three more letters," Pip confirmed, mind whirling with the best way to slip recovery potions into her aging mistress' dinner (a near melt was, in Pip's experience, a clear sign of either exhaustion or an oncoming cold).

"Well, alright then- but do bring a plate of biscuits."


It took nearly another hour, but by midday Cassiopeia's correspondence had been mailed, her two floo calls had been completed (one outbound to Pollux, who was threatening to become a hermit if she did not find something to do with him, and one incoming from Rita Skeeter, curious what event she would be covering next), and her elf had been successfully convinced that a nap was in due order.

"If only it were warm enough to nap outdoors," Pip fretted, glancing out into the frozen garden. "Missy Cassiopeia could use some sun."

Cassiopeia raised one brow as she settled in on the daybed. "I'm British, Pip. Sunshine is barely in my vernacular."

The elf frowned. "Missy Cassiopeia should still-."

Invisible fat raindrops dripped directly down the house elf's spine, and she gave a full body shudder. At the same instant, Cassiopeia's pointer finger and thumb began vibrating savagely.

"I don't suppose that's a delivery?"

Pip shook her head, squirming uncomfortably as she watched the fireplace roar to life and turn green.

"Wand up, then- I don't know why on earth any group would be pushing through our wards like-,"

With a soft thud and a sweeping cascade of brilliant blue velvet, Isla Calderon stepped from the fire and raised one brow at Cassiopeia's still reclined form. "Goodness, darling. A bit late to be lying abed, is it not?"

Squinting her eyes, Cassiopeia ignored the barb to peer closely at the tiny man her dearest friend had dragged through her fireplace only moments before. "Pip?"

"Yes, Missy Cassiopeia?"

"We didn't make any appointments today, did we?"

"Absolutely no appointments were even requested, Missy Cassiopeia."

"Then we appear to have an intruder. Dearie me, Isla, you haven't been kidnapped have you? Surely not. You kidnapped this little man, then? Whatever for?"

Isla let out a decidedly un-ladylike huff. "Goodness, darling, at least aim for basic manners- I can't imagine what your mother would say if she saw you call Professor Flitwick here a little man to his face." There was a pause, and then: "Actually, yes I can. Your mother is a horrid example."

Filius, frowning heavily himself, stepped backwards towards the fireplace. "I won't come where I'm not welcome- though, Isla, I'm rather disappointed that-,"

"Oh, you're perfectly welcome, if you're Isla's guest and not her kidnapper." Cassiopeia paused thoughtfully, "Though I suppose if you were her kidnapee I could hardly turn you away either."

Isla looked very pointedly at the ceiling in what some might call an exaggerated eye roll.

"Cassiopeia, I'd like to acquaint you with Professor Filius Flitwick, an old friend of mine from our shared apprenticeship. Professor, this is Madam Cassiopeia Black, Materfamilias of her House and my closest confidante." The Calderon matron waved one gloved hand between the pair. "Cassiopeia, Filius has a fine appreciation of food. Filius, Cassiopeia has a wonderful kitchen staff. So then, tea?"

(Hidden behind her mistress, Pip groaned. A proper tea should be planned more than five minutes in advance!)

Cassiopeia smiled easily. "Well, if you insist dear. If you'd both follow me?"


The winter conservatory was still a bit frozen from Cassiopeia's strategic Christmas celebrations (a good freezing charm does not simply wear off), so she guided her unexpected guests across the house for their impromptu tea.

Dubbed the Oaken Parlour, the room the trio entered was small and cozy, heated by a large fireplace that took up nearly a whole wall, and papered with leafy golden branches. It's centerpiece was a glossy oak table shaped like a leaf of the same tree, with pure gold ore running its length in place of a stem. If it's innate coziness wasn't enough to make a new acquaintance speak openly, the confidence charms and soothing enchantments embedded in the very walls themselves certainly were.

Settling down on a dark cushioned chair, Cassiopeia gestured for Isla and Filius to make themselves comfortable. "I must say- when the wards alerted me that more than one person was coming through, I was a bit worried."

Isla raised a single eyebrow. "Expecting unwelcome company now, are we?"

"I'm the materfamilias of one of the most notorious families in wizarding Britain darling- of course I am." Cassiopeia paused thoughtfully. "Though while we're on the topic- would you mind adding additional protection against goblins into my wards sometime soon?"

Both of Filius' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Goblins, Madam?"

"Certainly- I wouldn't be surprised if someone hired the Hoard to attempt to meddle in my business at this point."

"You don't- Madam, as much as I hate to disabuse you of your notions in your own parlor, the Hoard is not for hire by wizardkind." Filius' mild surprise vanished in the face of his sudden amusement.

Cassiopeia smiled vaguely. "Of course they're not."

"I do assure-,"

"Tea is being ready, Missy Cassiopeia." With an unusually soft pop!, Pip appeared with a complete tea set balanced on her overly long fingers. "The guests must try all of Pip's menu."

Quite the menu it was- Pip had been hard pressed to choose between providing sparse trimmings to get back at the uninvited diners or living up to Isla's casual compliment, and eventually the desire to avoid embarrassing her Mistress had won out. It had taken a good bit of rushing and a great deal of magic, but the good black and bone white china set depicting funeral chrysanthemums was now loaded down with roasted butternut squash soup, miniature sandwiches in nine varieties (including english cucumber and smoked salmon), squares of baklava, tea biscuits, plain and berry scones, and cream.

"Goodness," Cassiopeia murmured, eyeing the baklava appreciatively. "And on such short notice, too. You outdid yourself, Pip."

"And Pip was not poisoning a single thing, even if she should for requesting tea after barging in," the little elf muttered under her breath as she passed out tea cups.

At Pip's elbow, Filius' eye's grew wide in alarm.

Isla laughed behind one gloved hand, watching as her oldest friend levitated the tea pot and poured. "Don't worry, Professor- I do believe the elf has been given specific orders to not poison guests without permission."

"One guest was enough," Cassiopeia said agreeably, and her grin spread across her face as she watched the small statured Hogwarts teacher peer worriedly at the biscuit he'd only just set on his plate.

Both women were pleasantly surprised when Filius glanced up, grinned, and took a large bite of the biscuit. "Fortunately, one of the main benefits of having completed my Charms mastery was mastering a wandless, nonverbal poison detection charm."

Isla looked affronted. "Did you then!"

Slyly: "Certainly- it's amazing what you can pick up when you aren't distracted by sweet Spanish nothings in your ear."

Cassiopeia cackled at Isla's exceedingly rare flabbergasted expression.

"My final year was primarily independent study of perfecting nonverbal- and, when possible, wandless- charms. My specialty aside from dueling charms were detection spells." Filius' smile turned razor sharp. "That's how I can list the exact names and number of the enchantments in this room."

There was a brief pause, broken finally by Isla's laughter. "Ravenclaws- they spoil all the fun with their practicality. Why on earth did you even think to check?"

"I'd like to say I check every room I enter, but it was actually the sound muffling effect that such an overabundance of charms has on the sound of elf apparition that clued me in," Filius admitted easily. "That said, lesson learned- I'll start checking my surroundings more at once. It is too easy to relax at Hogwarts. At least, it was."

"Oh?"

"Apologies, darling, I didn't explain- Filius is here with me for more than just tea. Albus has been quite naughty lately it seems. Care to explain more, Professor?"

"In for a penny, in for a pound. I first began investigating after Isla's Hogwarts visit some weeks ago..."