Ch 51 The start of summer vacation
It was Thursday, the middle of June, just before the students who were going home were scheduled to start leaving. Minerva looked at her lists of who was staying at Hogwarts and who was going. There were more students were staying than she had anticipated. More meals and care. More money from an already strained budget. All the staff was staying, and she had additional spouses of staff staying in the castle or on the grounds.
Hagrid had his own well and septic system, but that was being expanded to allow the Grubbly-Park and Grubbly-Plank families to set up a magical tent so they did not have to commute by Floo to Hogwarts. The number of magical animals had expanded, and George Hogg said they were close to needing a sewage management system and something called a sewage lift station installed in the Magical Creatures area. More money.
Professor Henry Slughorn and his wife Flossie were moving into a flat in the married professor's housing wing they had added on. Flossie had reacted to finding out she was pregnant with a full-fledged panic attack. Thank goodness they had recruited a retired but now widowed professor, Godiva Gryffindor, to teach the middle level Charms classes, so Cinnamon could help with some of the personnel issues, especially with female students and professors. Minerva was not going to have time to babysit Flossie.
River Babbling, Bathsheba's husband, had turned out to be a delightful grandfatherly man. He had taken over teaching the children of staff, and Tracy VanDer Raaltee was using a room in her husband's business to teach the young children living in Hogsmeade, keeping the little children and their parents from Hogwarts and Hogsmeade apart. It wasn't ideal, but it did help enforce the quarantine.
Twenty-twenty was turning out to be one crazy year.
"It is hard to make soap, shampoo and perfume when everybody is wearing masks," Mary Middy complained to Albus and Cleo. "There is a Potions Room in our flat at the Middy family compound, and I will be able to make the scents once this stupid masking and quarantine is over."
"Do not worry about the finances, Mary," Albus let the worried witch know. "We can afford to have the scent making material on consignment until you have the time to build your own business."
"I like the labels, "Mary Edington, a POTTERS PERFUMES licensee.' It is really more Cleo than Albus, though."
"I will be Cleopatra Potter eventually," Cleo beamed.
"I will be Mary Edington next week, but we are not waiting to move into the flat together," Mary smiled back. "We leave tomorrow and are both going to be moving in together. Is it normal to want your husband more when you are pregnant?"
"I see you found the room in the Astronomy tower," Cleo laughed. "Was it fun?"
Mary looked at Albus, her face getting red. "Should I leave?" Albus wondered.
"No, Albus," Mary replied. "It was successful, since I am pregnant. It is just the physical and emotional part of sharing your bodies is a lot more than fun. It is a lot more complex, but I really like it."
Albus and Scorpius had joined Rose and Cleopatra in the commons room of Gryffindor, Albus and Cleo in the middle, touching, Rose next to Cleo, Scorpius next to Albus, on one of the large overstuffed pieces of furniture, when Daniel Tiger and Nancy Weasley came in.
"I am staying here over the summer," Daniel announced when the group asked him what his plans were. "Grandfather is in a care home, and he is not doing well. They have sold the house, and everything from the home is in storage. I guess someone from the Ministry cleaned out the house, shrunk everything they could, and put it in some storage unit somewhere. Someone from the Domestic Affairs Unit, I think she is some sort of assistant, wrote to me about it. She said that at least I will have the basic things I need to start housekeeping when I graduate."
"I'm staying here too," Nancy insisted. "They are a little short of help for the farms, but I understand that they have hired a couple of the poorer families of Magi to help. My mother told me that your Aunt Fleur, Albus, knows something about what Muggles call 'tough love.'"
"That sounds like Aunt Fleur," Albus admitted. "Beneath that exotic beautiful exterior I've been told she has an iron backbone."
"At least we can learn about scents this summer," Daniel reflected.
The six Magi spend some time talking about the scent business. Rose and Scorpius were not going to be working on the scent business any more than necessary this summer, and were considering not working on it at all in the autumn.
Lily and Hugo took the Floo to twelve Grimmauld Place Saturday, the middle of June.
"There is not going to be an International Confederation of Witches and Wizards meeting this summer," Harry told Ginny that evening after dinner. "The whole world is in chaos, and the Magi are not immune."
"They are trying to have a normal fall Quidditch season, but with fewer spectators," Ginny informed Harry. "All the teams have procured Magic Mirrors for the reporters who will not use Muggle technology. I have one linked into the Quidditch Mirror network. It is not like the Mobile network, where you can call anyone who has a mobile.
"A big mirror is not very portable, either. I have mine in my office. I will be able to watch the Quidditch matches from the Potter/Weasley box at the stadiums. Donna is going to watch with me, with masks on, but no guests."
"I will be there," Harry informed his wife, "but I will be more a guard than a spectator. We are trying to limit the number of people in close proximity. The Shooks will be there, but not normally in the box. I know it is only the start of the summer, but we are trying to see how we can keep life as normal as possible despite this pandemic. It is not easy."
"There may be a vaccine for Magi by the end of the year," Dr. Kearney told Harry. "You know that there are not many Magi, and there are large parts of the world where there are few or none of us. There are a large number of companies that are working on Covid-19 vaccines, but only one company where we have access to the vaccine in its prototype stage and will be able to get production doses. We have contacts in West Michigan with Pfizer."
"I thought there were Swiss contacts in the pharmaceutical industry," Harry suggested.
"Yes, but none of them are working on a Covid-19 vaccine," Dr. Kearney let Harry know. "We have procured some of the Pfizer vaccine for testing. We think a very small dose will trigger enough of a reaction in Magi to make us immune, but we need to test it. If it works, we should be able to start vaccinating Magi the end of this year or the beginning of next year."
"That's months away!" Harry exclaimed.
"This is astoundingly fast, if it works, Harry," Dr. Kearney told Harry. "Usually developing a safe and effective vaccine takes years."
The end of June Albus and Cleo were in the Appleleaf quarters at Hogwarts.
"Does that help?" Cleo asked, as she was trying to explain to the Professors Appleleaf what she saw when she performed one of the more difficult charms. They had temporarily given up trying to understand how Cleo saw Transfigurations.
"No," Tom admitted.
"I think I am beginning to understand," Cinnamon pondered. "It will be good when Professor Gryffindor arrives. She taught Charms as well as Transfiguration in France, before she retired to take care of her sick husband.
"I think we are finished here for the time being."
"James has scrounged up enough people to practice Quidditch," Albus told Cleo.
"Do you mind staying to talk about some other things, Cleo?" Cinnamon wondered.
"Sure," Cleo beamed. "I was just going to practice my music, but I am having plenty of time for that this summer."
Once everyone else was gone, Cinnamon looked seriously at Cleo. "Did you want Mrs. Slughorn to become pregnant?"
"I did not meet her until the party for old Professor Slughorn. I know I am, sometimes, like a fertility goddess type of person. I am trying really hard to control that part of me, unless someone asks for help. I knew she was pregnant at the party, but I do not think she knew."
Cleo sniffed the air. "Do you want me to make shampoo for you and your husband?"
"Will it make me want to become pregnant again?"
Cinnamon indicated by her body language that she was not in favor of this. "Four children are more than enough."
"No, but I can make sexy perfume so if you want to …" Cleo was beginning to become embarrassed. "So if you want to, even if you don't want to make a baby when you do. I mean, you don't just do it when you want to have a baby."
Cinnamon laughed. "Maybe you can examine Flossie Slughorn. Can you make shampoo, soap, and perfume so Flossie is going to be happier loving Henry?"
Cleo scrunched up her nose, and pulled on a plait, obviously thinking. "I did examine them, as well as I could, without being obvious, but I could do a much better job if they knew and cooperated."
Cinnamon arose and indicated that Cleo should come with her. "The Slughorns are very old fashion, Cleo. The best way to see if they are at home is to go to their flat. You can send a Patronus if it is urgent, but this is not that urgent."
The pair went up one set of stairs, and very quickly they were at a door with a nameplate, "Professor Henry and Mrs. Flossie Slughorn." Cinnamon knocked on the door, and Professor Slughorn answered.
"Do you and Flossie have time to talk to Miss Smith and me?" Cinnamon asked.
Henry waved the pair in. They were in a modest sized but comfortable living area, almost a library it was so filled with books, but the Professor waved them back towards a kitchen and eating area where there were books and parchments on a table. Mrs. Slughorn shrieked, and dropped a quill. "Cinnamon, have we done something wrong?"
Cinnamon looked at Cleo, obviously a little frustrated, so Cleo thought she should try to calm everybody down. "I'm just here to offer to make you soap and shampoo and perfume, Mrs. Slughorn, and," turning towards Henry, "make you soap and shampoo too. Most of the couples I have made scents for say the scents are very nice, personalized, and they appreciate how their spouse smells. I know you love each other, but I think the scents would be nice."
Henry Slughorn smiled. "That would be nice, Cleo."
Flossie Slughorn snuffed, waved her hands in a gesture that indicated she was not sure, and looked to her husband for guidance.
Cinnamon sat down and looked at the Slughorns, before looking back at Cleo. "Miss Cleopatra Smith is going to be making shampoo and soap for Tom and me, and perfume for me. She assures me that if I wear the perfume Tom will get the message and we will have a nice, intimate night."
Henry smiled a small, gentle smile. "That would be nice."
Flossie was close to crying. "I'm not very … I'm not very … I'm not very smart or pretty or anything. I am lucky Henry asked me to marry him, and … but … maybe I've helped him with the research for his classes a little but I'm not much of …"
Cleo became both disgusted and determined. "Let me examine both of you, at least."
Both of the Slughorns nodded 'yes,' and Cleo examined them with her wand.
Shortly after Cleo and Cinnamon left.
Once they were in the hall outside the Slughorn's flat, Cleo frowned and shook her head. "I know I'm not a very good judge of who is pretty. I just don't see the world like other people do, and Rose says I am just totally hopeless when it comes to fashion and how people look. Is Mrs. Slughorn ugly? She thinks she is, ugly and dumb, and she is just so beaten down, but I do not think she is ugly at all."
"No Cleopatra, she is not ugly. She is no exotic beauty, but she is way more normal looking, and pretty, than she thinks she is. She is no genius, but no idiot either. I know some of her story, and the mind healers know some of the reasons why she has such low self-esteem. Can your scents really help her?"
Cleo threw her hands up in the air. "It is magic, not miracles, but I think the scents will help. I do need to examine you and your husband, if you were serious about you wanting scents."
Cinnamon let Cleo back into their apartments, and Cleo examined both of them. She promptly went down to the Potions area where they made scents. Making scents for the Appleleafs was easy.
Cleo pondered what she was going to do with the Slughorn scents, and with the spells that went with the scents. She needed to encourage the professor to see his wife as beautiful. He needed to want to please her. She needed to allow herself to be pleased, not just allow the professor to, well, it wasn't that he was just using her, but it was hard for him to please her when she didn't see herself as desirable. Cleo used her wand to remind herself of what those two smelled like, and what she had learned about their personality. She went to several books on scents and spells to go with the scents, and spent a good couple of hours on the scents for the Slughorns.
Eventually she smelled Albus. He was pretty rank and very sweaty. "You need a shower, Albus. I am just finishing up soap, shampoo, and perfume for the Slughorns. I will see you at lunch, and then I need to deliver these scents, alone."
Cleo watched Albus leave. He had matured since first year, with broader shoulders and the nicest little butt. She wished she could go into the shower with him. She wanted him in her, and his baby in her, and his child at her breast, and … and they were going to have to wait years and years before that would happen.
Cleo prayed that she was doing the right thing, and finished the scents. She thought that if she was praying she ought to join the church, even if she didn't really understand all the doctrine. Cleo had to admit that, as good as she was at some magic, there was a whole lot of the world she found baffling.
Meals at Hogwarts were different in the summer. Minerva had changed the tables to individual ones of varying sizes. Many professors ate with their families, and they were just much more approachable. Students at times ate with the professors as well.
Albus found Cleo sitting with Jesus Rios and Ginny Wang. Most of the MELL students had stayed at Hogwarts for the summer. Traveling long distances, with all the restrictions, was problematic, and some of the countries were in chaos. It was just easier.
Professor Cinnamon was talking to a young witch about something; Cleo knew that the professor was going to be teaching only two classes, and spending time working with witches that needed someone to talk to. Professor Tom was herding their four children, Tolman (Tommy), who would be sorted in a couple of years, Robin, a couple of years younger, Ruby, the middle sister, and Daisy, the youngest. Daisy was born during Cleo's first year, but she was now a gregarious toddler, very active and vocal.
Cleo loved babies, and children, and they loved her. Daisy ran to Cleo, her arms up. "Cleo, Cleo, up, up."
Cleo picked up Daisy. "I am going to deliver to the Slughorns first," she told Professor Appleleaf.
"Daisy eat with Cleo," Daisy insisted.
"You may eat with Albus and me, if your parents say you may."
Tom nodded yes. Cleo put Daisy down and held her hand as they walked over to the table where Albus was. Albus summoned the high chair that had been at the Appleleaf's table, and Cleo worked with Daisy on her eating, a somewhat messy process, and the two talked. Meanwhile Albus slid over on the bench so he was touching Cleo.
Rose and Scorpius were eating at a small table with Professor Babbling. Her husband was eating with them, and he seemed to be taking care of almost two-year-old Elanor Wong, the daughter of Elessar and Arwen Wong, the Potion's professors. Cleo knew that the Wongs' were expecting another baby any day now.
"What did everybody do today?" Jesus Rios asked Albus, Cleo, Rose and Scorpius at dinner. He waved at himself and Ginny Wang. "We have been studying how the world of the Magi is governed in different countries."
Rose pulled out her tablet, conjured up a rather large display, and pointed some things out as she used her wand to move things on the magical display around. "The ancient documents show how some of the governing has changed over the centuries." Rose folded her arms under her breasts and scowled. "Things changed when the society became patriarchal. MEN!"
Scorpius rolled his eyes and sighed.
Cleo looked at Albus, so he started. "We spent part of the morning with the Appleleaf professors trying to understand what Cleo sees when she sees the magic behind the magic. I think we made a little progress. Then I practiced flying with James and some of the other students. He is working with someone from the Firebolt Broom Company to make the broom more maneuverable, and I think he is taking too many risks."
Albus looked at Cleo, indicating that it was her turn. "I made soap, shampoo and perfume for the Appleleaf and Slughorn's the rest of the morning."
"After Cleo delivered the scents, we practiced music," Albus continued.
As they were speaking the Slughorns came into the Great Hall, and headed to the head table, holding hands. Professor Slughorn looked happy, and Mrs. Slughorn looked, Cleo was trying to determine how she looked. She looked happy, but maybe a little embarrassed too. She was wearing a dress. Cleo looked at Rose. "Is that a pretty dress?"
Rose tried to formulate a response. Neither Mrs. Slughorn nor the dress were ugly, but the dress did not flatter her figure either. Somehow the dress took a rather average looking woman and hid her best features, like she was ashamed of her body. "The dress is pretty enough in the abstract, Cleo, but it is not the best dress to make Mrs. Slughorn look pretty."
After dinner Professor and Mrs. Slughorn came over to the table where the six young Magi were still talking.
Mrs. Slughorn was obviously very nervous. "The professor says I need some pretty clothes," she whispered.
Cleo looked at Albus, who indicated that the boys should leave.
Cleo stood up. "Let's go to the Potions Room Albus and I use, where we can be private."
Flossie nodded her acceptance, and she, Cleo, Rose and Ginny walked down to the Office and Potions room in what was the Chamber of Secrets, through some Elves who were using the larger parts of the complex for something.
"I do not know anything about pretty clothes," Cleo indicated, moving her hands around her body, "except for undergarments. I've had to learn about those after going from being flat to being not at all flat."
The other females looked at Cleo. 'Not at all flat' was an understatement.
"You are going to become bigger too! I think the professor is going to like that; most wizards do." Cleo giggled, and the other young witches smiled.
"Rose knows all about pretty clothes.
"Why did you marry the professor?"
"My brother was the smart one in the family, and my sister the pretty one." Flossie frowned and sniffed, struggling to get the words out. She was not crying, but she it looked like she was admitting to being something of a failure. "I was just the ugly, dumb younger sister. I really did not do much after Hogwarts, except read. I did work a little, but lived at home. My mother had been telling me I needed to move on with my life, but I had not dated anyone for years.
"The professor had been living with his parents, but they kicked him out. They told him that he was too old to live with mum and dad. I think he was looking for someone to take care of him, cook and laundry and the like. We started to date. We can talk about books and history, and I think we didn't fall in love so much as drift into like. So we married, and it was not bad. I always used birth control potions, and we didn't make love all that often, but we did, and it was not bad.
"When I had to move into Hogwarts I lost track of the birth control potions, and then I found out I was pregnant. I am the youngest, and do not know anything about being a mother.
"Well, the professor used the soap and shampoo, like you told us. I went into the bathroom to take my shower and he was NAKED, and he LOOKED at me, and asked if he could watch while I undressed, because he said I was beautiful, and he liked looking at me. ME. So I did, and he, he, is lust good if it is your husband? I could tell he was excited, and so I washed, and then let him wash my back, and we hugged in the shower, like we were lovers and not just, just, just.
"So I put the perfume on, and he had a book about sex with some spells, and he showed a couple to me, and told me that I was just to relax and let him make love to me. And I did, and he took his time, and we spent more time kissing and holding and, Cleo, I think you are right. It feels like it did when I was going through puberty. I'm getting bigger. They are tight, and he likes that. And when we, and then he, and it wasn't over quickly but, and then, oh my, I am not sure we ever made love before. Not like that.
"Then we finished, and he looked at me, and told me I was beautiful, and needed some pretty clothes. Maybe we can fall in love, and if pretty clothes will help, if that is what he wants, that is what I want."
Flossie was crying profusely now, a world of emotions showing.
After the girls comforted Flossie, Rose summoned some clothing catalogs, and between Rose and Cleo they ordered new undergarments, a couple of dresses, a couple of maternity slacks and maternity tops.
Cleo thought that maybe the spells, and the prayers, had worked. She had no idea why some of the clothes were prettier than others, but Flossie seemed to like them. Ginny sat and listened, but didn't say a word during the entire meeting.
2021