For this who've already read this chapter, I re-wrote chapter 23 and 24 because I thought it didn't flow well. 25 and 26 are new & I changed a bit of previous 26 which is now this 27. I deleted them before re-uploading them but the email notifications didn't come through.
Happy readingxx
Elen was reading about how Jo's class was half an hour late to Herbology in her letter when she craned her head past the bookshelf she'd just finish restocking, hearing the piercing ringing of the doorbell slowly fade into the heavy rainfall pattering the front window of the bookshop. With a soft sigh she reluctantly tucked it into her back pocket, feet quiet across the velvet burgundy carpet as she watched a duo slip their shaken umbrella into the umbrella stand by the door. Elen paused when they turned around, their wet jackets hanging on the coat rack. Her eyes widened when she recognised their strikingly familiar faces and rushed to envelop them into a crushing hug.
"Dia! John!" She cried out, beaming at the bright couple. "What are you two doin' all the way here? Don't you have a dental practice to run?"
"That's the first thing you say when we visit for the first time in thirteen years?" Diane pulled away, eyes gleaming as they studied the suddenly bashful brunette. Her lips tugged into a smile when Elen lightly slapped her husband's arm at his loud laugh.
"Hush, you," Elen huffed. "My darling daughter's gone off to some gifted boarding school with our cat in the Highlands of Scotland. If you're here for quick visit, you're not getting any complimentary Welsh cakes from me."
"Actually," John's mildly serious tone made her pause, "Hermione's attending a boarding school in the Highlands of Scotland too."
"Incredibly selective and... well... of course we're so proud of her but—"
"That's why we decided to stay in Cardiff for a week. We only had to ask a few locals to find you." The couple then exchanged glances at Elen's increasingly pensive expression.
"Hermione?" The brunette pulled out and tentatively unfolded Jo's letter, skimming over the contents. "Does the name Minerva McGonagall ring a bell?" She inquired carefully, observing their alarmed expressions morph into unadulterated joy.
"Yours too?" John laughed, eyes crinkling in relief. "This makes everything so much easier. Rhys would be absolutely insufferable."
"I can imagine," she chuckled quietly, aware her sadness seeped into her voice when their expressions fell. "He died in the Flu outbreak with mam and tad. You know how easily ill he gets."
"Do you have time for a cuppa?" Diane murmured, pulling the brunette into a warm hug. "We can come by later if not."
"I doubt anyone else will come today with this horrid weather," Elen stepped back to herd them past the burnished wood bookshelves to the staff room at the back. "It's so slow today I gave my staff an impromptu day off — still paid, of course. I might close early if the rain doesn't let down anytime soon."
"You mean we get to hoard these sumptuous armchairs for ourselves?" Diane arched an eyebrow, eyes raking across the interior the room as soon as they stepped in.
"Jo's got lush taste, doesn't she?" Elen replied with a smug curl of her lips. "She helped design the renovation. We weren't able to finish it quick enough before she left for Hogwarts."
John hummed softly in agreement, pausing. "Jo? I thought you two were going to give your children Welsh names?"
"Josephine," Elen said in a gentle tone, brown eyes softening. "Josephine Alwyn Bevan."
"Ah," Diane made a sound of understanding, nodding slowly. "You named her after..."
"It was an easy decision."
"Professor Allair was a brilliant woman," said John faintly. "She would be overjoyed she knew."
"They both have ridiculous naming senses too," Elen mumbled under her breath, flicking the kettle on after rounding the two into the nearest seats. "No sugar with a dash of milk?
"Trust you to still remember," John smiled. "What's wrong with their naming sense? I don't recall her having an odd one."
"Jo named our cat Nikolay the First," Elen retorted affectionately, pulling out three mugs
"And they would hit off with just that alone, John," Diane confirmed. "I think she called her cat Isabella the Second."
"An empress of the Holy Roman Empire," clarified Elen. "History might not Jo's favourite but it's one of her top. Right now it's either Wandlore, Transfiguration or Biology."
"Hermione loves everything... but we're not quite sure she likes Potions as much after what she wrote to us about Professor Snape."
"Jo almost walked into a wall asleep after that lesson," she handed over the letter before returning to finish brewing the tea. "They're roommates, those two."
"Like us?" Diane glanced up at Elen in delight, taking the letter.
"She's so much like Rhys, isn't she?" The brunette grinned as the couple silently began to read the letter. Elen had to bite her lip to hold back a laugh at the multiple expressions crossing their face as she set down steaming mugs of tea. "You think we should surprise them? They shouldn't know about us. You could come over to ours for Christmas."
"That sounds lovely! Hermione's never been to Cardiff before. She'd love what you two have done with the bookshop too."
"Well, if you two are coming back, it's goin' to be the whole thing, not just Cardiff."
"Like when we went backpacking together?" Inquired John.
"Definitely. Me and Jo were going to go everywhere we could in those two weeks—most likely the Brecon Beacons, Dunraven Bay, Caerphilly Castle, Pembrokeshire Coast and Merthyr Mawr," Elen paused with a soft smile. "Jo loves the sand dunes at Merthyr Mawr and cliffs at Dunraven Bay."
"They sound heavenly," Diane sighed.
Elen sharply arched an eyebrow at John.
"You all loved Europe," he defended, facing steely stares from both women.
"Not the blisterin' heat of bloody Australia," Elen clipped crisply. "An' you couldn't 'ave booked the worst lodging. Those spiders, John, those spiders still haunt me. Perhaps I should spill all your embarrassing secrets to your daughter in retaliation? I'm sure she would love to hear your dark history, Supreme Overlord of The Fourth Dimension."
Diane burst out laughing when the bell rang again, saving John from further embarrassment.
"Feel free to look around and help yourself to anything that picks your fancy," said Elen as she left the room with a bright gleam in her brown eyes.
Jo had, after all, always wanted to meet her university friends.