Ch 52 Meeting the Malfoy Family
"Is Mrs. Slughorn just, I don't know, she just looks a lot happier, maybe more feminine" Rose asked Cleo a few nights later, as the six students waked into the Great Hall for dinner.
"I think she is happier being married to Professor Slughorn, and being pregnant," Cleo thought.
Rose elaborated. "Mrs. Slughorn has a rather average figure, but with the right clothes an average figure is really a very pretty one. It also helps if someone has some self-confidence. I think Mrs. Slughorn is beginning to accept that the professor thinks she is pretty, and that makes her actually be prettier."
"I did some things with the spells and scents so the professor would see his wife as beautiful, which I think she really is," Cleo admitted. "He is not ugly, and I did some things so she would be able to accept that he loved her, and that she was worthy of love. They are tricky spells, and you do not want to overdo anything, but I think they worked.
"Look at how the professor is looking at his wife!"
Rose giggled. "That is one of the dresses I found for Mrs. Slughorn. I think it is a pretty dress, and we did some spells to flatter her figure. I could see the professor holding his wife's hand, and she has the look of, maybe, a schoolgirl with her boyfriend. She looks happy."
Rose looked at the Professors Wong as they entered the Great Hall. "When is Professor Wong due?"
The petite professor was noticeably wobbling when she walked, and her husband was holding on to her.
Cleo motioned with her hands, making a baby bump that started right under her breasts. "Earlier this week she was carrying the baby high." Cleo made the same baby bump, but lower down. "She has dropped, so I think she is due real soon. She looks more like Mum Ginny did before she had Minerva."
The six students, Al, Cleo, Rose, Scorpius, Ginny Wang and Jesus Rios, sat down. Ginny adjusted her clothes, which were a little tight on her. "Rose, you have a great sense of style. Could you help me order some clothes? My mother does not want to buy me any clothes that make me look grown up."
"I would like that!" Rose beamed. "Come up to our dorm room after dinner. I have a large inventory of catalogs that we can look at."
Ginny looked at Cleo. "Are you going to help, Cleo."
Cleo shrugged. "I'm good at how bodies change as you mature, so I am pretty good at undergarments, but I have no sense of style at all. The only reason I don't look ugly is because Rose and Mum Potter help."
Ginny touched one of Cleo's plaits. "I love how exotic you look when your hair has all those ribbons and beads in it."
Cleo grabbed both of the little plaits and pulled them to her front, waving them. "The witches in Switzerland started that for me. I love it, but I have no idea what looks good with what else. Albus says I see too many colors, see the world differently than other people, so I have no idea what looks good with other things. He says it is like being color blind in reverse. Rose knows colors and style, and I love it that she can make me look like ME."
Ginny made a face. "I've asked my mother to buy me a pretty Chinese dress for dances, but all she has shown me are clothes that make me look like a little girl. I would like to have Jesus dress in colorful clothes that show off his Hispanic origin, and me in Chinese clothes, so we celebrate our differences."
Rose reflected. "Mum says that all the Magi attending Hogwarts are maturing a little faster than normal, and it worries her. Boys too."
The three boys looked uncomfortably at the three girls. All of the boys knew they were maturing faster as well, but boys didn't talk about those things.
Ron met Harry at twelve Grimmauld Place, both wearing masks. "The witch that meets with Bowman Flint is furious, Harry. The Davies have no idea why, but the best guess is that the Pirate Witch Queen was planning something this summer, and the pandemic has messed up their plans. Bowman meets with that witch, and then gets drunk and we have to levitate him back to his house. I do get a little information, or hints of information, when he is real drunk."
Harry looked at a couple of notes he was carrying, trying to add this piece of information to other things he had been hearing. "I know that the American Magi have heard something similar. Narcissa Malfoy meets with Cleopatra's grandmother occasionally, Narcissa, Draco and Astoria. Narcissa seems to think that grandmother's mother, the Pirate Witch Queen, is both furious and frustrated, not knowing what to do."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Ron wondered.
Harry put his face in his hands, and shook his head. "I wish I knew. I wish I knew."
"The Malfoy family is coming over tomorrow afternoon to talk to Scorpius," Ginny told Harry one evening.
"Who arranged that?"
Ginny smiled. "Mum, if you can believe it. She knows that we set up a little studio in my office. It helps when I am interviewing Quidditch players and staff, but it is also ideal for communicating with the children at Hogwarts. They have something similar in the Muggle Studies building."
Harry nodded. "I know. We have used it for Hogwarts board meetings. Who all is coming?"
Ginny admitted, "I do not know. We will see tomorrow."
Auror Sue Shook parked her broom right outside Ginny's kitchen door where, by opening a window or popping out to a balcony she could summon it. She looked up towards where an Auror and another DMLE officer were stationed. She just did not trust the Malfoy family. She entered the kitchen, where Ginny was waiting for her. "All set for the Malfoy family, Ginny."
"I'm sure Scorpius's great-grandmothers are dangerous," Ginny kidded.
"I just do not trust that family," Sue countered.
The Floo flashed green and Narcissa Malfoy stepped out, followed by Draco, and then Astoria. Finally, two older ladies stepped through the Floo. All of them but Narcissa looked around themselves with distain and distaste, the women lifting skirts as if they would get dirty.
Narcissa waved towards the older women. "My mother Druella Rosier Black, and my mother-in-law Godiva Greengrass Malfoy, Ginny. I am sure you recognize Ginny Potter from all the publicity she has received over the years."
Narcissa looked directly at Sue, who introduced herself. "I am Auror Sue Shook, one of the guards that protect the Potter and Weasley families, Mrs. Malfoy."
Sue looked directly at Draco, who scowled.
Ginny waved her hand around. "This is the kitchen, and where we usually eat. We have a few stairs to climb to get to my office."
Ginny led the way up the stairs, Mitzi by her side. She was relieved that everyone was wearing a mask.
"This floor has a living room/library and a dining room.
"This floor has the room we use most. We call it our drawing room, although Hermione says it might as well be a family room, depending on how we have it furnished.
"This is the first floor of bedrooms, including our master bedroom. Little Minerva sleeps in the nursery on this floor.
"This is the boy's floor.
"We are finally at my office, plus Lily Luna has a room on this floor."
Ginny led the way into her office, with Sue the last one in, the older women panting quite heavily at all the stairs. Ginny led the group over to a place where there was a huge television screen, and below it a smaller, although not tiny, screen.
"That round thing on top of the big screen is the camera. It is what sees you and transmits the pictures of you to Hogwarts, and to that smaller monitor down below. That way you can see what your students are seeing. I will turn the camera on so you can see what you look like, and arrange yourselves. We need to wait for Hogwarts to call."
The group sat down, arranging and rearranging themselves until finally they were satisfied that they looked the proper picture.
Eventually Ginny received a call on her mobile. "I know the routine. I will hang up and log on, and then I will receive a text with a code to confirm it is me."
Ginny did something at what Narcissa knew was a computer, looked at her mobile, and typed something. The big screen came to life, and sitting there were Scorpius and Cleopatra, and next to them Rose and Albus.
Ginny waved her wand, and a transparent screen came down between her and the Malfoy family.
"You can take your masks off now" Ginny waved. "We have upgraded the ventilation in this room, and the PVC curtain isolates us."
Druella, who was closest to the plastic, went up to it, tentatively touched it, and sniffed. "It smells gross. What kind of magic smells like that? What kind of spell is that?"
"It is just a transparent Muggle material. It does have a distinct odor," Ginny admitted.
"What are you doing with Potter and that Granger girl?" Draco snapped. "You are not supposed to be dating that half Muggle Granger."
Rose stood up and put her hands on her hips. "We are NOT dating. He is dating stupid Cassiopeia Starkey, because she is pure blooded, and she tries to merge their bodies when they are dancing."
"And you are dating Percival Frobisher, because he is the only boy who will dance with you," Scorpius countered, before adding, "Rose is an excellent partner in research, however. We are working with Professor Babbling studying some of the most ancient histories of the Magi. Rose's mum even found some books and scrolls that date back almost two thousand years."
"You are to be spending time with Cleopatra!" Godiva Malfoy insisted.
"Are you sure this Cassiopeia is pure blooded?" Druella Black wondered.
"She is in Slytherin, and I think so," Scorpius admitted. "It is not like she is a serious girlfriend that I'm going to marry or anything. We just go to dances together."
Rose looked at Scorpius, a scowl on her face.
"Well, we spend a little more time together, but she went home for the summer," Scorpius added.
"At least she is pure blooded," Druella sighed.
Rose whispered so only Scorpius could hear, "She is pure blooded, so you can eat her face."
"What?" several members of the Malfoy family said at once.
"Never mind, it wasn't important," Rose insisted.
The conversation continued in this vein for about half an hour. When it was over Ginny told the Malfoy family, "Put your masks on. In about five minutes I will raise the curtain and walk you back to the Floo."
"Thank you, Ginny, for arranging this," Narcissa told Ginny, when it was clear that none of the others would thank her.
"You are most welcome. It takes some time to arrange these meetings, but it is well worth it." Ginny replied.
Rose looked at Scorpius with compassion when the meeting was over. "Is it always that tense at your house?"
Scorpius waved his hands like he was trying to pick an answer out of the air, obviously down and upset. "Sometimes it is better, but occasionally it is worse. It is not a happy house."
Rose looked at Scorpius, then stared at Cleo. Cleopatra had been looking with compassion at Scorpius, but she looked right at Rose, admitting, "It is not a happy house. That is why we are so happy to spend part of our vacation time with the Potter and Weasley families. Granger-Weasley too, Rose.
"It is not a very comfortable house either, Rose. I know you decorated your house. When we were over in your room at thirteen Grimmauld Place you had photographs of the house before and after you were allowed to decorate it."
"It did look like neither of Rose's parents put much effort into making the house look nice," Albus admitted. "Rose, you ought to redecorate the Malfoy house."
"The only way I could do that is if I married Scorpius," Rose scoffed, "And THAT is not going to happen."
Rose turned and strode away, and Cleo rushed to catch up with her. Rose looked back at the two boys, and quietly told Cleo, "I don't see what he sees in that Cassie girl. It's not like I don't have a figure too. I mean, I'm not eager to have someone pawing all over me, not yet, but a boy ought to like a girl as a girlfriend without wanting to get into her knickers.
"Percy isn't ugly. It is not like I cannot get a boyfriend, exactly. Boys!"
"Rose Granger-Malfoy' Cleo thought to herself. 'I wonder how long it is going to take.'
Scorpius watched as Rose strode away, her skirt waving back and forth, hips moving up and down. He turned to Albus. "She is pretty, you know. I would like … I'm not sure what I would like. I am not sure she is ready to have a real boyfriend. I mean, if she wanted to, if I thought she would not just get mad and not want to be a friend, I would ask her to be my girlfriend now, I guess.
Scorpius shook his head. "Everyone in my family would crap a dragon, though. Well, maybe not grandmother Malfoy, but everyone else. I mean, Rose would be worth it, but I would not exactly want to put her through that either."
2021