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It seemed they barely had a chance to get used to the idea of two new babies when it was time to enact the ritual again.
The boys' twelfth birthday party was coming up fast. The pirate themed party was a joy for all who attended. All the kids wore eye patches and there were live parrots flying around that would land and say a pirate phrase. There were swashbucklers and mermaids and damsels with swords.
The ceremony was much the same as last time. The only difference was that two of the girls carried in the newest members of the family so everyone could be part of the ceremony. They made the third page of the newspaper this time. Oh well, you can't win them all.
Narcissa was glad to be pregnant but she could feel this would be her last time. Four pregnancies and seven children was plenty enough for her. Her youngest two were so close together, they would be in the same Hogwarts class, whenever they got around to going. She rubbed her belly and smiled as she thought about the new life growing inside her.
However, babies weren't the only thing on Narcissa's mind. They were finally ready to open the elementary school. They had held a fundraising bazaar by selling items that were found in the room of lost things. There were some valuable antiques in there. There was also a not insignificant amount of jewels and gold inside. They split the proceeds from the gold and jewels with Hogwarts but kept all the money they earned from items sold for the elementary school.
Malfoy Manor had been renovated. The building contained 209 rooms, including the conservatory, ballroom, and entrance hall. Half of those rooms were converted to rooms for the elementary school to use. The other half was converted into modern row houses. She had no plans to sell the houses. Each child and family under house Black would receive one of the houses as a graduation present when they finished their education.
They couldn't live in a trunk inside a Muggle house forever. Also, Narcissa was pleased with one thing that came out of the debacle of Harry's kidnapping. She now knew the protection provided by Lily Potter's sacrifice applied to all the members of the House of Black. Harry's love for his family made it so.
The three girls, Jazz, Chryssie, and Lily, would attend the new elementary school for their last year of primary education. Narcissa was sure the girls would be far ahead of their peers, but they would accommodate for that. It was important to the community for Narcissa to show everyone that her own family would be patrons of the school.
Remus Lupin was the school's headmaster. Rather than hide his werewolf condition, the school taught the truth about werewolves and when they were dangerous. In honor of that truth, the school had optional field days on the day before, day of, and day after the full moon. The kids loved it. They got to spend the days playing Quidditch or other sports, including Muggle sports. They got to have a talent show and an art show and had the chance to show off their school work to their parents. These school days were optional. Kids could choose to come or not.
Narcissa smiled at the memory of the first day of classes, when Remus was teaching astronomy to the class. He taught them all how to identify the phases of the moon.
He held up a picture of a new moon. "Is a werewolf dangerous on the new moon?"
The class chorused an answer of, "No."
He held up a picture of a gibbous moon. "Is a werewolf dangerous on the gibbous moon?"
Again the class chorused, "No."
Remus held up a picture of a full moon. "Is a werewolf dangerous on the full moon?"
A loud cascade of, "Yes!" came flying out of the children's mouths.
Remus smiled. "That's right. The only time a werewolf is dangerous is on the full moon. The rest of the rime, they're just regular people. Some of them are good, and some of them are bad. What do we know about stranger danger?"
The kids excitedly talked about what to do if a stranger talked to them or tried to get them to go somewhere with them.
The Blacks led the way and most families enrolled their children in the new elementary school, called Pre-Hogwarts Preparatory Academy The most rewarding part of the new school so far was the inclusion of Muggleborns. She remembered one mother of a five year old Muggleborn cried when she was shown that her daughter was a witch. The poor woman had thought her daughter was possessed by a demon. She'd tried multiple doctors and exorcists but nothing seemed to work. She was exceedingly grateful to finally know what was going on. It validated Narcissa's entire reason for doing this. She was helping to integrate Muggleborns into wizarding society early so they would settle in naturally amongst their peers.
Naricssa's pregnant belly was fit to bursting by the time she finally gave birth in April. Little April Fleur Snape was born. She had her mother's silver eyes and her nose, thank gods. She had her fathers silky hair and would develop his flair for sarcasm to epic levels. Having children is karma indeed.
Sirius' and Charity's second daughter, Corona Marie Black, made her way into the world much more gently than her sister had done. She was born on the last day of April, during a delightful spring sprinkle that made all the flowers bloom and release their essence. She was a joy to be around.
Remus was glad to live in the home with his large extended family but he had to admit that despite how busy he was, he was also lonely. Tonks was now 18 years old and an auror trainee. She had upped her mind games with Remus to an epic level. She teased him in every way a woman knew how to tease and everyone could see Remus' resolve weakening. Andromeda thought her daughter was shameless but couldn't help but admit she would like some grandchildren someday. Preferably soon.
The only complaint Narcissa had was that the new elementary school required all of the children to visit a dentist, doctor, and optometrist before starting school. Since only a doctor in the form of a healer existed in the magical world, it meant Narcissa would have to spend time operating in the Muggle world.
Narcissa had gotten much better over the past few years, especially with the help Charity gave to herself and all the children in understanding Muggle culture and technologies. Narcissa loved going to the cinema but she never felt right eating Muggle food. She was always afraid it wasn't sanitary, which was usually ridiculous but she couldn't seem to kick the fear.
This is how Narcissa found herself at the Hampstead Family Dentistry practice one day in late August. She was glad to get a day out with her three older daughters but she missed being with the babies, though it was good to get a break from them, too.
Narcissa stood in the hallway outside the room Jazz was having her teeth cleaned in when she accidentally overheard a conversation.
"I'm not letting her go back there. She was almost killed by a troll!"
"Yes, but they'll bind her magic if she doesn't go back. She'll be devastated. We can't do that to her."
"Hogwarts is unsafe! I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her. I'd rather her lose her magic. We live without magic and we get by just fine."
"Emma," the voice said, cajolingly.
Narcissa couldn't help herself. She knocked on the office door. She heard someone gasp and a thump as someone dropped something. A moment later, a male voice said, "Come in."
Narcissa entered the office. "Pardon me. I don't mean to intrude but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I myself attended Hogwarts. Maybe I could be of service to you, if you have any questions?" Narcissa said, politely.
Dan and Emma Granger just stared at her for a moment before they answered.
"Er, yes. That would be lovely. Ms.?"
"Oh, excuse my manners. My name is Lady Narcissa Black Snape. And you are?"
The Granger's introduced themselves and explained what had happened to their daughter. Narcissa was horrified. Not only because the poor girl had been attacked and severely injured by a mountain troll while in a girls bathroom, she had also been castigated because she had the highest grades in her class. She had no friends. She was not safe. Even though she had a lot of potential as a witch, her parents were thinking of withdrawing her from school.
"Oh no, please don't do that. There are other options. Hermione could also learn magic at home with a tutor. That's how my own children learn. I intend for my children to be homeschooled through their OWLs at the end of their fifth year of school. Then, they can attend Hogwarts for their sixth and seventh year NEWT studies only."
Dan and Emma looked at each other, hopeful at first but then defeated. "We could afford a tutor but we have no way to find tutors in magical subjects. We wouldn't even know where to begin to oversee her education ourselves and make certain it was adequate."
Narcissa thought for a minute. Her children had a variety of tutors for a variety of subjects. Would it hurt to add one more student to the brood? She had always hoped her family would have strong ties to a Muggleborn. She thought it would help Lily adjust if she ever found out her true origins.
"I might have a solution for you. Would you mind coming by our house for dinner tonight? If the children get along well, I wouldn't mind adding Hermione to our homeschool pod. There are currently five children, though I believe Neville Longbottom will also join us next year. He has not adjusted well to Hogwarts either. He seems to be failing all his classes as he's unable to control his magic. His grandmother is hoping that private instruction will help the boy find his way. He'll need to pass his OWLs at a minimum to keep his magic," Narcissa said thoughtfully.
The Granger's looked hopeful again. "We'd love the opportunity to see what your classroom settings are like," Emma Granger said.
Narcissa looked thoughtful again. "If you'd prefer, you can come by after lunch tomorrow and stay until dinner. The children study Muggle subjects in the mornings but in the afternoons they study wanded magic. You could come sit in on a class, if you'd like."
The Grangers were very excited about that possibility. Their daughter could learn Muggle subjects as well as Magical, which made her parents feel much better about her education. They quickly agreed to come by tomorrow at 1pm for the full tour. If all went well, they would work out the payment that would be required for Hermione to attend homeschool with the Black children.
The next day, all the children were excited to have the unexpected student stopping by to view their classes.
"Children, this is Hermione. She'll be sitting in with us today. She has completed her first year course work at Hogwarts, so today, we will be reviewing the second year curriculum to show Hermione what she might learn if she were to join us," Remus said, as he started class.
The children learned defense from 1pm to 2:30pm, transfigurations from 2:30pm to 3:30pm, break from 3:30pm to 4pm, charms from 4pm to 5pm, and Runes from 5pm to 6pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they had potions with Severus from 1pm to 3pm, break from 3pm to 3:30pm, herbology from 3:30pm to 4:30pm, and arithmancy from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. It was too bad Hermione would miss potions. It was one of their favorite lessons. They rounded out the school week with astronomy from 9pm to 10pm on Wednesday nights, care of magical creatures on Saturdays from 10am to 11am, and history of magic on Thursday evenings from 8pm to 9pm. Since history of magic tended to be basically a story telling hour, it was no hardship to have the class so late in the day. They took a month-long break around Yuletide and midsummer but otherwise attended school year round.
The children spent the day showing Hermione everything they had learned so far. Hermione soaked it all up like a sponge. By the end of the day, she had learned most of the spells from the second year review.
"The boys will be continuing the third year materials this year. With a little hard work, I bet Hermione could catch up to the other children. She might take a while to learn occlumency and animagus training, but I can tell she's a bright spark and she'll get there," Narcissa said, proudly.
Hermione turned to Harry and Draco with her mouth agape. "You know occlumency? You can transform?"
The boys looked proud. "Well, we can't fully transform yet but we know what our creatures are. It's going to be brilliant. I'm betting we can fully transform by next year!" Harry said.
"But we are already master occlumens," Draco said, making sure she knew they could really do some of the things.
"Wow," Hermione said, staring at Harry with stars in her eyes. He looked right back with pride in his own.
Narcissa grinned to see the sweet little love match being formed right before her eyes. Who knew what might come of it but she certainly would be proud either way.
"Mummy, Daddy, can I please come to school here? They learn art, foreign languages, and dance, too! And self defense, Daddy. Didn't you say I needed to learn that?" The excitable girl gushed. Her parents laughed to see her so excited. She seemed to be making friends already, it made the family happy to see it. Only one thing could possibly derail things. The Grangers looked at one another and took a deep breath.
"One thing, please?" Emma Granger said to Narcissa. Narcissa raised a brow in question.
"We have another child, Dion. He's 9 years old. He wouldn't be starting at Hogwarts yet, but he is a magical child. Would he be able to attend classes here with the other children?" Dan asked.
Narcissa smiled. She took the Granger's on a short floo ride over to the new elementary school. She couldn't show them any classes yet, as school didn't start until September 1, but she could show them around the classrooms and explain the place. Remus joined them, and gave a very thorough explanation of what Dion would learn and how he'd be taught.
"Dion would, of course, be welcome to join the children when he is 11 years old, instead of attending Hogwarts. I think he'll love attending the Pre-Hogwarts Preparatory Academy with my girls this fall."
Dan and Emma were delighted to learn of the elementary school. They trusted Remus to keep the children safe and absolutely loved the building and grounds upon which the school sat. They kind of wished they were young enough to attend themselves but instead, they'd be glad to become dedicated PTA members.
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