Zia felt herself grow pale as she stared at the little man, holding out the parchment depicting and describing the two homes. Greater Hangleton was not exactly the best place for her to move. It was six miles away from Little Hangleton, which meant that it was six miles away from Tom Riddle Senior, and her Tom's uncle and grandfather who lived in the rundown shack close by. There were a lot of potentially hazardous problems with that place.

"A-are you sure that that's the only place that has everything?" she asked the man. He scowled at her, as if she had insulted him.

"Of course I'm sure! I'm the head of this department, I know the listings perfectly." Zia didn't know what to say. She didn't want to disappoint Tom, who had ceased questioning Pozey for the moment and was now watching her reaction with concern. She didn't want to stay in the apartment they were in, but she didn't want to rely on someone else to pay for a house for them. Moreover, she absolutely did not want to get close to Greater Hangleton, with all the potential dangers there for her and her son.

"Ah, sir, thank you for all the trouble, but I think that moving isn't the best thing for my family right now after all," she said. "We really don't have the means. You can just get him whatever he wants." The short man stared at her as if she had just snatched away a piece of candy that he really wanted. She wondered if he worked on commission, and whether he had a family depending on him for support and felt guilty for having him do all that work only to decline the offer. Regulus frowned at her and turned to the man.

"I have the means. I'll take both houses," Regulus said. Zia whipped around in her chair to glare at him.

"You don't know what you're doing, please don't-" she began, but he silenced her with a raised hand.

"I'll pay now," he continued, pulling out a small pouch.

"Alright," the worker said excitedly, and named the prices, which made Zia feel even sicker than she already was.

"No, no, no! Look, I'll take a small place somewhere in London if you have any." Tom opened his mouth to protest, and she looked down at him. "Floo powder will be fine for visiting, it's not necessary to live close when it will only take a short time to get there anyways."

"Too late Zia, I've already paid for both," Regulus said. Zia stared at him in horror.

"Can I talk to you for a moment please? Pozey can you look after Tom and make sure nothing bad happens to him?" Pozey nodded as Zia dragged Regulus out of the office and down the hall a little ways.

"What is this all about? You were doing fine and then all the sudden-" he began, but Zia cut him off.

"Tom's father lives six miles away from Greater Hangleton! Six miles! And his uncle and grandfather, same thing! You don't have ANY idea what kinds of problems this could create!" she hissed quietly to him. He raised his eyebrows.

"Tom's father? Why isn't he raising his own son? And what's the problem with his uncle and grandfather? Aren't they your brother and father?"

"It's a complicated story, but trust me when I tell you that it could end very badly if something goes wrong." Zia envisioned thousands of people killed by her son, inferi coming out of a black lake, horcruxes, dementors, and thought she might throw up. Tom was doing so well, but this could wreck everything. And even if they were a family, even if he was her son in everything but blood and technical name, she was terrified that learning the truth would crush him. He knew he was adopted, that she wasn't his real mother. He knew his father was somewhere in the world. But he did not know that she had never been his aunt.

"Explain," Regulus said.

"That could take a long time, which we don't exactly have at the moment," she told him.

"Then tell me the basics. I promise I won't do anything to harm your family with any of the information."

"I…I'm not…actually…Tom's aunt…" she whispered, very quietly. He started to laugh.

"That's what you're worried about? Zia, I don't really think that matters," Zia fixed her eyes on him furiously. He stopped laughing.

"It's not just that. His real grandfather and uncle are…much, much worse than your sister in every single way. And his father…his father was tricked into marrying his mother with a love potion. I am afraid that any of them could hurt him. His father might not be so bad, but the other two…they're dangerous. I don't think they're exactly sane." Regulus grinned at this, and it wasn't a carefree or cheerful smile. It was fierce and sinister.

"All the more reason to go. Let's take care of this problem early on. Don't you think it would be worse for Tom to find out later?"

"I won't kill anyone," she said. "And I won't let you. It damages the soul."

"Oh, it's not necessary to kill someone in order to fix this problem. I happen to be gifted with memory alterations, whether it's removing or adding," he explained, the look on his face becoming more resolved. "We're going." Zia didn't know what to say to this. Regulus had a good point, and if he could add memories of her where they needed to be, it would solve a lot of the problems involved with the move.

"You mean you're going." She walked back into the office.

"Mama is everything okay?" Tom asked, looking up at her anxiously. "You look kind of pale."

"I'm okay, I had some questions to ask Regulus before he moves. It's all settled now though, so I think we should get home. We'll have to look into houses later."

"Pozey will start dinner!" the elf standing next to Tom said in her squeaky voice. Zia smiled.

"Wonderful! We will need your skills Pozey." The elf smiled, her huge eyes widening, and with a crack she was gone. Zia looked over at Regulus, to whom the elderly man passed two sets of large house keys, then to Tom. "We're next." She held her hand out to Tom, who held on tightly, then they exited the office.

"I don't see why you won't just-" Regulus began, but was silenced when Zia shot him a look. Tom continued asking questions as they went back down to the enormous fireplaces that lined the entryway to the Ministry. Zia was grateful for his inquisitive nature, because it kept Regulus' mind focused away from houses. She went through the grate first, landed in her living room feeling very much like she was going to vomit, then scrambled out of the way as Tom arrived followed by Regulus. Pozey skittered in just long enough to snap the soot off of them and for Zia to realize she was wearing a pillowcase.

They ate dinner, which was delicious, without mentioning moving. Then Regulus left. When she tucked Tom in to bed that evening, she read to him until he fell asleep. Then she sat against his bed, staring out into the darkness. She was still unable to sleep. Finally, she stood and shuffled into the kitchen. Pozey was there, still awake, and held out a fresh cup of tea. Zia took it and sat at the table.

"Pozey. If something ever happens where we are in danger, will you take Tom somewhere safe? Your only priority will be to get him somewhere safe. Then the snakes," she said. Pozey's huge round eyes stared up at her.

"What about you mistress?"

"I'm last. Everyone else out before me."

"Pozey understands." Zia nodded and rested her forehead against the cool wood of the kitchen table, staring across at the wall. The snakes were enlarged again. Pozey knew to get everyone out if something happened. It wasn't enough to make her feel secure, but it would be enough to hold them out until she saved enough money for a different place.

She must have slept eventually, because the sun woke her the next day. Tom's tugs on her sleeves kept her up.

"Mum, you have to get ready for work. And I have school!" Tom called to her urgently. She sat up immediately and bolted to her room. She put herself together as best as she could, then emerged with barely enough time to take Tom to school. At least Pozey had breakfast ready for Tom. At work, she struggled to pay attention, her mind still focused on the break in, but she did her best.

On her way to pick up Tom, she grabbed the newspaper and flipped through it absently until her eyes caught the job page. Hiring: night house cleaners. She bit her lip. She didn't want to leave Tom alone at night. But she also needed enough money to move. And they had Pozey now. She turned it over and over in her mind. Tom noticed that she was thinking of something, but he made no comment on it.

The next day, she spoke with Papa Charlie before work began.

"Zia, you know we would help set you up with a new place. There's no need for you to go to this length," Charlie said shaking his head at her. "It's too much for one person."

"You both do so much already, I can't let you do that again," she protested. "I can do this. I'll be fine." He looked at her dubiously, but she didn't flinch. He shook his head and patted her on the shoulder.

"We think of you like a daughter Zia, and Tom is every whit our grandchild. If we want to help you it's no bother to us. We like to help," he said kindly.

"I know. I just...I need to be able to do this," she said. Nothing he said then, and nothing Nana Mary said later changed her mind. Two days later, Tom took over the spare bedroom in Mary and Charlie's house. The snakes went along of course. Pozey kept herself hidden even as she helped Nana Mary keep the house clean, and split her time between there and the apartment. Zia stayed in the apartment mostly. She worried that if they all ended up with Mary and Charlie, somehow someone would find them there.

Zia worked. During the day while Tom was at school, she worked. In the evenings she and Papa Charlie picked up Tom and they rode the bus together. She ate with the family and read with Tom, then after she put him to bed, she left for her second job. She'd been hired as one of a small team of housemaids for a very wealthy family in the area. They only cleaned at night, and if she worked hard enough, she could get her sections done in only a couple hours. Then she went back to the apartment and fell into fitful nightmares.

She put aside all the extra money, but it wasn't much. Seven weeks later, she dragged herself inside Nana Mary and Papa Charlie's home. It was a weekend, and Tom had begged her to say with him this time. She was tired all the way down into her bones, and it was only getting worse. She didn't make it all the way to the spare room, and instead curled up on the couch in the living room and fell asleep. Voices woke her the next morning, and she sprang up, embarrassed.

"Now now, you're not working the next couple days, so there's no need to get up so quickly," Nana Mary's gentle voice came from the direction of the kitchen. Zia sat back down warily, and looked over.

"What do you mean I'm not working the next couple days?"

"Charlie's decided you need the next few days off. Dear, you do need it," Mary pressed a cup of tea into her hands and smiled gently down at her.

"Zia, you don't look well." Regulus' voice came from her other side.

"What are you doing here?" she stared at him, unsure if she was just hallucinating all of this. She watched him and Mary share a look with each other. Since when had they become close?

"Regulus has been over to see you every few days, but you're never here," Mary chided gently, now passing a plate of bacon over to where Zia still sat on the couch.

"Sorry," she picked up a piece of bacon and sighed. "I'm just trying to-"

"Mum," Tom interrupted her this time. He climbed onto the couch and sat next to her. "We know what you're doing."

"We're all worried about you. Tom especially," Regulus said next. His hands were dug into his pockets, and his long hair was combed back away from his face. He was dressed quite smartly in muggle clothes. Charlie's influence no doubt. She wondered just how often he'd been there.

"Please stop working so much mama," Tom said quietly. "I miss you." The heartbreak in his voice was painfully obvious. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a hug.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, doing her best to keep herself from crying.

"What will it take for you to accept my offer of staying in my summer home?" Regulus asked. Zia did her best not to glare at him in front of Nana Mary. She knew the "summer home" he referred to was in fact the house he'd purchased apparently for her.

"That's a lovely idea! If you want your own space so much, and he has extra space, surely this is a reasonable solution?" Nana Mary clapped her hands happily, as if everything was all coming together. Zia worked even harder to keep the scowl off her face.

"I couldn't possibly just-" she swallowed as Regulus strode across the room and sat across from her, his eyes flashing.

"What will it take for you to accept the offer? What will make you comfortable enough to accept?" his jaw was set stubbornly and she knew that with Mary on his side, and likely Charlie too, she was now fighting a losing battle.

"Let me pay you," she said weakly. "Rent."

"Fine. Done. Whatever you're paying on that apartment now, that's your rent," he said firmly.

"Surely it's worth more than that," she protested next, but he shook his head.

"You said rent. I set a reasonable amount. I'm not arguing any farther with you on this," he pulled out a sheaf of paper and scribbled onto it for several minutes. The scratches of fountain pen on paper were the only sounds in the room. Then he held it out to her. He'd written the terms of their agreement onto it. "Sign."

"Go on dear, this is more than reasonable," Mary encouraged.

"Yes mama, sign it!"

Zia sighed, picked up the pen, and scrawled out her name. Zia Gaunt. It was done.

"Come along Zia, let's get you fed and cleaned up. Then we can start getting everything ready for the move," Mary said. Regulus offered Zia his hand and she took it, he helped her up and they all went into the kitchen.

"Regulus, how are we going to do this?" she whispered as they fell behind Mary and Tom.

"Pozey can take you back to the apartment, and I can apparate back to the house. If you can get everything packed by this evening, we can start then," he said.

"How would we be able to get everything packed by this evening?" she asked him, trying to mentally calculate how much they had and how long it might take to get it all together in trunks.

"You're a witch, aren't you? And you've got a house elf. It sounds like Mary and Tom will take care of this end. You'll be fine."

"See? Like I said, you'll be fine. Now let's eat," Regulus said with a grin. "Mary's cooking is amazing."