After spending a few days reconnecting with each other and reaffirming their commitment and love they made their way back to the house in the Winter Court. Just in time for the evening meal.
Looking up as they come in, Sorcha asks, "Is the Great One not with you?"
Petunia can't help it, she falls to giggles again and Karen looks at her sourly before answering, "She is, but it's complicated."
"Oh? How so?"
"I'm pregnant."
"Oh, congratulations, we'll have to arrange another feast."
"With Selene."
"You are doubly blessed then."
Lyasa comes charging into the house like a mother seeking missile and launches herself at Petunia, "You're home, I missed you."
Hugging her back, she ruffles her hair once she's caught her breath back, "I missed you too, but we needed the time alone together. Just like you need to spend time with Aona and Róise on your own occasionally.
"But they're just friends."
"And that is also true of the best marriages. At the clan level, you could say ours is a love match."
"Oh, like Granny and Gramps are."
"Yes, though I've yet to meet them."
"Where's Mummy Selene?"
"She became part of our family, and so she'll be your sister soon."
Lyasa looks confused, "What do you mean?"
Petunia gives Sorcha a look to say 'Give me a hand here.' To which Sorcha returns a 'You're on your own lass' look.
"Have you ever heard of reincarnation?"
"What's that?"
"Ah, You'll need to ask your uncle Garund to explain it to you. You might also need to ask what it means that Karen is carrying Selene afterwards."
"OK."
Lyasa runs off shouting for her uncle as only a child the equivalent of a 12-year-old can.
Sorcha laughs quietly behind her hand, "That was very well done."
"I've had to do it with Dudley before, I just wish that I was able to do it with Harry too."
Karen folds Petunia into a hug, "You did the best you could at the time. If you hadn't been kidnapped you'd have been showing Harry how much you love them. As it stands if you hadn't been kidnapped you'd have never met Lyasa and she'd have died in the dungeon. Garund would have been next into the dungeon unless he swore to the winter court. Azaria would never have met Nymphadora, and neither of them would be in the pudding club. We can't change our pasts, we can only heal from it, learn from it and move on. I'll tell you this as many times as you need to in order to heal."
Politely looking away from Petunias breakdown, Sorcha softly says, "You sound like one of the healers at our clan."
"That's probably because I'm trained as a non-magical healer of the mind, with a speciality of treating children."
"How can you afford to specialise that much?"
"I'm sure that you've spoken to Petunia about things like this before, but she has her skills and I have mine."
"We have, and I can't say that I understood her explanation."
"Before we begin, do you mind if I make somewhere comfortable for us to sit?"
"Not at all. Though we've stopped using created items in the house because Nixie sometimes decides she wants a snack."
Petunia looks up briefly, "It's OK, she's sleeping under my hair again. I think she might be pregnant again after being in such a high magical area the last few days."
"I'll make a temporary nest on the table so that she has something to snack on if she wakes up then." As Karen says that she waves her hand and conjures a nest filled with soft sparkly bits and pieces before she conjures a corner sofa for the three of them to sit on. Gently reaching up behind Petunia's head, she pulls Nixie away and places her in the nest.
After some coaxing, the three of them chat about human life on earth, and the differences in the way they learn compared to the way the Sidhe learn. They also cover the way that Petunia's outlook on life has changed from the human norm to be more like the Sidhe. Lyasa comes in during the conversation and cuddles up with her mother.
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A few weeks pass, and Karen, with Lyasa and Petunia, takes the time to start teaching Sorcha the method of meditation that they're using to teach reaching their magic in Hogwarts. She eventually manages to extract a promise that she'll practice this for an hour every day along with practicing English every day for the same length of time. The duration of the promise is until she returns or one lesser cycle, which ever comes first.
The goodbyes are heartfelt and teary, as neither Karen or Petunia want to be parted. Ceeley returns to earth with Karen with strict instructions to pick up Petunia's wardrobe and a supply of feminine hygiene products, makeup, and toiletries. If she has the opportunity she should also get some clothing for Lyasa and Sorcha so that they can get used to earth fashions before they visit.
At the last minute, Petunia pushes a couple of letters into Karen's hands with the promise that she'll give them to Harry and Dudley on Christmas Day.
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Emma looks at the entrance to St Mungos with a soft smile before turning to her daughter. "It's good to have you home for Christmas, I'm sorry I have to work but I'm glad you chose to come with me. As you can see my new job is a little different from my old job."
Hermione looks at her, "What is your new job?"
"I'm an Apprentice Healer"
"How did that happen?"
"Did the IRA bombing spree in October make the news in Hogwarts?"
"No? There was a bombing spree?"
"Yes, nine days nine bombs from the 1st October. I've been trying to see a mind healer about the issues that I have that meant we neglected you while you were growing up. I was supposed to start in September, but there was always a reason not to do it. So on the 5th Lily sent Hedwig with a dictated letter asking me how it was going. It arrived just as I was leaving our practice. Rather than going home I went straight to St Mungos and booked my first appointment for the 9th. The all hands on deck call came during my appointment, as the IRA put the bomb in an alleyway on Charing Cross Road, an alleyway between a bookshop and a music shop. The one either side of the Leaky Cauldron. 20 witches and wizards were wounded when the expansion charms were damaged and the tap room returned to the size of a small shop front. I went with Mind Healer Tonks and started doing triage the way we were taught at university. I may have also lost control of my magic a little, and accidentally healed people with it. Which given my knowledge of biology was pretty effective. The head healer caught me doing it but didn't say anything at the time.
"A couple of weeks later they asked me into a meeting after my appointment. I was offered an experimental apprenticeship primarily using the methods that Madam Pomfrey is teaching at Hogwarts. I'm also doing a part time medical degree on the British Government's dime in order to expand my knowledge beyond the mouth and associated functions."
"Why didn't you let me know?"
"Because you're doing your own important things, I know you've been exploring America. I know something was found in Egypt and you're helping to find it. Karen and Minerva do send us letters. So I left the news until I could tell you in person rather than distracting you from your own tasks. I don't think you realise just how proud of you I am. I don't think I could ever be a Warlock or a Magi. A healer on the other hand, I can do that. Well come on then, my shift starts in a couple of minutes and I have a trunk of books with me that you can go through if you want."
Taking Hermione's hand, Emma heads through the mannequin that is the entrance to the hospital into the waiting room. Once they're both through she lets go and heads over to the welcome witch.
"Hey Sally. This is my daughter Magi Hermione. Hermione Trainee Mediwitch Sally."
"I've heard so much about you Hermione, is it true that you slew a Basilisk last year?"
"What! No, that was something else."
"How about forcing Snape to back down a couple of years ago?"
Hermione blushes, "That was an accident, Harry had just been having a really bad day and then Snape decided to insult her and I just snapped."
By the end of Emma's shift Hermione was wishing that she'd been able to just go to Harry's, but he wanted to spend some time with Lily. That's not to say she hadn't enjoyed herself, as it was certainly interesting and educational. It's just that there was this absolutely fascinating book about the human eye that she'd been trying to read, and it seemed like every time she got stuck in someone interrupted to ask her about her time at Hogwarts, or something that rumours said that she'd done.
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Albus nervously settles down in a window seat on an overnight plane headed for Eastern Russia. One of his friends mentioned that they'd lost a tablet with a runic scheme the pharaohs used. He fingers the heavy iron chain around his neck that is his only safeguard against meeting Him again. As for why he's flying with muggles, he knows that they're keeping tabs on him, so he has to assume that they are monitoring portkeys and apparition. Of course, if Fawkes was still with him it would be a moot point. But he hasn't been able to come within 100 yards of a unicorn let alone a phoenix.
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Victoria trudges through the park to Number 2 Privet Drive. She could have just stepped there but she feels like she needs the time to think and she's been all over the world so much in the last few months she's not had any time to think about personal issues. Any time she wasn't working she was at Hogwarts learning as much as she could about her magic. She's got jet lag out the wazoo, and Sirius has been absolutely brilliant through it all.
Coming to a decision she quickly steps to Hogwarts, then to the Library, and then out into the world before casting out her senses for a quantity of gold. Once she finds it she quickly summons a kilogram of it before heading back to earth and then stepping to a small mining town in Australia. There she finds the local diamond factor and persuades them to part with a large uncut vivid pink diamond, a couple of small black diamonds, and some tiny normal diamonds for her kilo of gold minus a little to make a ring from. With a smirk on her face she returns to the park and fixes the image of the ring she wants to make in her mind. Letting her magic form over the materials in her hand she forms a gold ring with the head of a Grimm embossed on the top, in the middle of the forehead is a large heart shaped pink diamond, it's eyes are black diamonds, and it's teeth clear diamond powder. Surrounding the Grimm is a halo of small diamonds. Holding the ring up to the setting sun she's pleased to see how it glitters in the sunlight, suggesting that she got the shapes right. With the excess diamond she engraved SB/VM forever into the inside of the band before conjuring a ring box with a plush velvet cushion inside. With a much lighter step she heads home to hug her sweetheart.
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Dora nervously looks at the front door of her parents house. She takes Azaria's hand for reassurance before squaring her shoulders and walking up the steps and knocking on the door. Azaria squeezes her hand reassurringly. After a moment the door opens.
"Nymphadora, isn't this a pleasant surprise. Ted! Nymphadora's here. Well do come in, we see you so rarely."
Following her mother into the living room, she sees her father coming down the stairs with a newspaper in hand. She takes a deep breath before speaking, "Mum, Dad, I'd like to introduce you to my wife Azaria."
Ted chuckles, "Looks like your daughter takes after us dear."
Andromeda chuckles, "I think she's taken it a step further love, after all most people have the wedding before they get married."
"Mum!"
"Oh hush dear, according to the family tapestry you've been married for months."
"Huh?" Dora says intelligently.
"Did you forget that Sirius brought us back into the family?"
"No? But what does that have to do with the tapestry?"
"It records the births, deaths and marriages of everyone in the Black family."
"What? Oh. Oh!"
"Now is there any other news you would like to share?"
Dora mumbles, "Gossipy old Healers." Before saying more clearly, "Mum, Dad, I'm pregnant, and so is Azaria."
Ted looks gobsmacked, "Well, congratulations. Who's the father?"
Azaria smiles at him, "So far as we know, we are."
Andromeda frowns, "Two virgin births, how interesting."
"Mum! Leave the healer stuff at work."
"You're right, it means that I'm going to have grandchildren. Azaria dear, does your mother know?"
"I don't think she does, I don't really have a way to contact her at the moment as I'm currently a high value target to the winter court."
"Is that a wizard enclave in Russia?"
"No mum, it's on a different world."
"Well sit down and tell me about it."
"Before we do, there's one more thing we need to tell you." Dora says with a smirk before looking at Azaria and morphing to look like her as she does the reverse.
"Oh dear, you're going to give the twins conniptions at Hogwarts next year aren't you."
"Oh we are, but that's only half the news. I've also got a base form now." Dora relaxes her control and takes on the Sidhe form she was using while her magic was repairing.
"Oh well done, how did that happen?"
"We spent 10 years or so out in the dream and Sidhe patrols kept popping by to ask us if we'd seen Azaria. So I had to keep the same form in mind for so long it fixed as a base form."
With the big announcements out the way Dora and Azaria take a seat and face a grilling by Dora's parents.
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Daphne pensively stared at the front of her parents house trying to build up the courage to walk in. She'd been staying at Hogwarts for the last three days to give Harry and Hermione space to visit their families while Karen was off looking for Petunia. However she was missing both of them something fierce, and she'd tried telling herself that it was because she'd been doing pretty much everything with them for almost two years, but it was getting worse. So this morning she'd decided to visit Mum and Dad to try to distract herself until Christmas tomorrow. She also felt less guilty about it now that she knew that Karen was back safely and would be available if anything happened at School. Not that she should be responsible for it as they have plenty of adult teachers now.
Shaking her head she puts one foot forward and crosses the ward line without disguising her magic. She could feel when her father acknowledged her presence and continues walking up the path. As she reaches the front door it opens for her and she can feel that there's someone just inside.
"Hello father, how are you?"
"I am well Daughter, we were expecting you a few days ago."
"I chose to stay at Hogwarts so that there was an extra Magi around. Karen got back last night so I felt it was ok to leave for the holidays."
"I see. You know where your room is. Lunch will be in an hour."
"Yes father."
As Daphne walked into the house she couldn't help thinking that she'd made a mistake in coming here. If she'd waited till tomorrow she'd have seen her mother and sister at Lily's house. Unbidden her feet carry her to her room and the stark austerity of it tears at her heart. With a sigh she sits on her bed and looks around, there's the bookshelf with all of her books laid out grouped by subject, each book immaculate. There's her desk, the lid closed. But she knows that if she opened it it would be perfectly organised. Her wardrobe, full of clothes suitable for high society functions and balls, absolutely nothing suitable for going to the beach or Disney world, or even Regent Street. On the wall by the door hangs a water colour of a landscape that she painted when she was 10, the only one that was good enough according to her father. All in all the room reminded her of some of the posh hotels they'd stayed in while they were touring America. That's when she realised what was wrong with the room, it wasn't a girls room, it was a room put together by someone that was trying to be a girl but had no idea what that meant. Where were the stories, the posters, the pictures of family and friends, the mementos of holidays and days out? Where was she in this room?
The soft click of the door opening and closing went unnoticed as she tried to see some sign that this was her room and not just a place for her clothes. Something that said 'This room belongs to Daphne'.
"Are you ok?"
Daphne jumps at Celia's voice, "Mum!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump. What's wrong?"
"This isn't my room."
Celia comes over and sits on the bed beside her, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, where am I in this room. What is there here that says 'This is Daphne's room'?"
Celia looks around and hums, "It looks the same as it did while you were here in the summer."
"I know, it's just…"
"You've been learning to live?"
"Kinda, yes, no, I don't know. I spent more time at Harry's during the summer, and I stayed at the school last Christmas."
"Is that everything that's changed?"
"I don't know, I feel like I'm the same person I was."
"What about your trips to America? Or running herd on Hermione at the Library of Alexandria? Or your shopping visits to London?"
"I guess, but it feels more…"
"Could it be related to when you stopped your Occlumency practice? As that was, what October last year?"
"How could it be that?"
"How long do you think it took you to start using Occlumency all the time?"
"I… I don't remember."
"You were 9, and your father seemed so proud of you. Especially when you didn't smile when he told you he was proud."
"Really? That quickly?"
"Oh yes, you were quite a rambunctious child and it drove your father spare. So, he probably pushed you harder than normal, as every time you went into his office you got an occlumency lesson. In retrospect I'm just glad that Astoria was a quieter child than you were."
"I don't think this is my room anymore, is that OK?"
"You will always be my daughter, it doesn't matter where you live. I don't think you're ready to live as an adult yet as you've still got too much growing to do and I'd like to be a part of that. But whether you make this your room or you find somewhere else to be your room I don't mind. I just want you to be happy. Of course, you could always see if there's a room that's yours at number 13 Wisteria Walk in Little Whinging, as that's what I originally came in to talk to you about. You're also now a British Citizen as well, which means you've got a new passport. I understand that this one has some additional information in it than the normal non-magical passport."
Daphne squeals in happiness, jumps up off the bed and steps to Little Whinging before stepping back to her bedroom and folding her mother into a Hug.
"Thank you, Thank you. How did you get this?"
"Do you remember I asked Karen to get a membership with the British Museum, well they went one step further and gave me British Citizenship. I was then able to sell a little of my old jewellery and buy the house in my own name. As you're my Daughters your citizenship was simply paperwork at that point. I also bought two tickets to Euro Disney for the summer so that I can take Astoria. I figure that if you want to go with us closer to the time we can either buy you day tickets or we can add a room to the booking."
"Thank you. I love you Mum."
"I know dear, and I love you too. Before you go, there's no direct floo access to the house, and the British government aren't allowing any private connections anymore. Not that it matters to you, but if you have friends over that can't just appear in the room they'll need to know how to get there. Now go find the house and have fun."
The last thing Daphne sees of her Mum that day is her smiling at the fact her Daughter is behaving like a 13 year old teenager rather than a pureblood princess.
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Harry was sitting on the sofa in the living room with Hermione curled up next to him and his mother sitting in an armchair. Lily had had the Dining room expanded during the school term after a lengthy correspondence with Gringotts followed by the Potter account manager coming out personally to verify that she is who she says she was. This had ended up with her taking the regency of House Potter until Harry had children of their own. All of this was germaine to explaining why the living room was now to the left of the dining room, and had a window to the front of the house. The old living room was now the TV room, and was currently populated with elflings and the matriarch of the day. It also has elf and elflings sized furniture situated where the coffee table used to go so that humans can sit in there without disturbing them.
On top of that, Hedwig looked like she was a very busy and very happy owl. When she came home a couple of days ago, she badgered her into watching as she set up the dictaquill and also activated the floo.
He reaches around and gives Hermione a squeeze as he thinks about how she ended up here last night. She'd had a really good couple of days with Emma, even if sitting at St Mungos was a bit boring. Yesterday was supposed to be her day with Dan, but it didn't really pan out, as 'Because Emma has been shirking her job' he had to work twice as hard. So she'd sat in the reception helping out when necessary until lunch time. That's when they got talking about what she'd been doing at school. Apparently Dan had blown a gasket because 'she had been galivanting around America' instead of focusing on her studies so that she could go to dental school when she finishes Hogwarts and then join the family practice. That was it for her and she excuse herself to go to the toilet and then stepped here. He could tell it's still bothering her as she doesn't have a book in her hands yet.
He was just thinking that it was nice being able to just sit here with his mum in companiable silence when Daphne's voice breaks the silence.
"Hey Harry, oh hey Hermione. Ohh, is there space for one more there?"
When he looked up he saw that her face was bright red as she realised what she just said. He was about to say something when Hermione looked up from his side.
"Mine! Though I don't mind sharing if you're not going to try to take… him away." She pauses as she runs a hand up his chest to check what gender he is, as though the hair wouldn't give it away.
Daphne hesitantly sits down on the other side from Hermione and leans against him. He glances over at his Mum and mouths 'traitor' when he sees that she's stifling a laugh and grinning from ear to ear.