"You're planning to return to your home today?" Professor Dumbledore asked at the end of lunch.
"That's the plan, unless you need me here," Severus said.
"No, I will be absent from the castle most of the summer myself, however there is one thing we should discuss before you go. Would you mind joining me in my office for a moment and bringing Rachel with you?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
Rachel looked up at the sound of her name.
"That's fine," Severus said, getting to his feet.
Rachel quickly ate the last two spoonfuls of her beef stew and got up as well.
"Do you have plans for the summer, Rachel?" Professor Dumbledore asked as they started walking out of the Great Hall.
"Not much. Summer homework, learning new spells, flying. Professor Snape said that we could brew some potions this summer," Rachel said with a glance at Severus.
"It's good that you're keeping busy, but it's also good to rest while you can," Professor Dumbledore said, peering over the top of his glasses at her. "Do you wish to pursue Potions after Hogwarts? A Mastery perhaps?"
"I don't know yet, but possibly. It's one of my favorite classes," she said, aware that Severus was watching her while they climbed the stairs.
"Remaining open to all the possibilities the world has available to you is a wise decision. People often don't discover where their talents lie until they're older and have more experience in the world. I often advise students to take a year or two before they apply to do a Mastery," Professor Dumbledore said. "I would be surprised if you are not considering flying professionally."
Rachel blushed. She hadn't planned on telling Severus that yet. "It's one possibility. Like you said, I'm trying to keep my options open for right now."
"There's plenty of time to decide," Professor Dumbledore said. "And, if you change your mind, that's also an option. Life is simultaneously long enough for us to explore, and short enough to remind us to enjoy it."
Long enough for some. The older Rachel got the more she realized how young her parents had been when they'd died. They had only been six years older than Rachel was now, and she couldn't imagine living all of her life in the next six years.
"Chocolate frog," Professor Dumbledore told the gargoyle, which stepped aside for them. "A favorite of yours, I believe?"
"Yes, sir," Rachel said, wondering if that was something Severus had told him.
"One of the accomplishments that I'm most proud of is my chocolate frog card," Professor Dumbledore said as they rode the staircase up to his office.
"It was the very first chocolate frog card I received," Rachel said, amazed at how very long ago that seemed now. She hadn't even known that the chocolate frogs came with cards.
"I do have a full set of the cards myself. I've been collecting since 1902, when the first set of chocolate frog cards were released. I do have something of a sweet tooth," Professor Dumbledore confided. The doors to his office opened automatically and Rachel and Severus followed him inside. "I'll send one of the school owls your way later today. I gather you'd prefer to keep using Gladys?"
"Yes, please," Rachel said, guessing that Severus wouldn't really care, but she'd like to see Gladys again.
"Gladys is nondescript enough that she makes for a suitable owl for our use," Severus said. "I assume you have something more to speak to us about than owls and chocolate frogs?"
"Yes, in fact I do have something very important to tell you. The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London," Professor Dumbledore said.
"At the Black family residence?" Severus asked, his right eyebrow raised.
"It's vacant, expansive, heavily warded, connected to the floo network, and it's now under the Fidelius charm. Which leads me to my request, we will need some assistance in setting up headquarters, cleaning, preparations, the like. I've already enlisted Sirius, Remus, and Molly, so we should be able to make a fair dent in things by September," Professor Dumbledore said.
"We will assist where we can," Severus said.
Rachel smiled, just a little bit so that Severus wouldn't see. That meant she'd get to see Sirius and Remus over the summer and she wouldn't even have to ask Severus.
"I'd like a fully stocked infirmary and potions cabinet. I'm going to send Poppy over so she can designate a space for it. I believe you can set up an area to brew in the cellar," Professor Dumbledore said.
"That I can do," Severus said, sounding like he much preferred that task than cleaning the new headquarters.
"I'll keep in touch, you'll know when meetings are," Professor Dumbledore said. "Rachel, please continue to monitor your dreams and your scar and alert Severus of any changes."
"I will," Rachel said. Her scar had felt a little bit prickly occasionally, but it usually passed within a few minutes.
"That is all I need you for today, please have a good summer," Professor Dumbledore said.
Rachel left with Severus, recognizing that they'd been dismissed. "If you don't want to help clean headquarters, I can do it. I'm really good at cleaning," she said once they were in the corridor.
"We'll see," Severus said.
She recognized that meant not to bother him about it right now and to try again when he was in a better mood. "Is there anything else we need to do before we go home?"
"No. You're all packed?" he asked.
"Yes, everything is in my trunk. Can you teach me the spell you use when you shrink my trunk?" she asked, figuring it was time she was able to do that for herself.
"Of course. The spell incantation is adtenuo. Simply tap your wand to the top of your trunk, not the side, and focus on its size. It's very important that you are thinking of the trunk and not the objects inside," Severus explained. "To reverse, it's dilatium, while once again focusing on the trunk."
Rachel nodded and decided that she would write that all down so she wouldn't forget.
Less than an hour later they were standing in front of their home in Hampshire, the sun shining brightly and a light breeze swaying the tops of the trees. It was almost as if she could feel herself relax a little bit, just from being away from the castle. The only people who even knew their home existed apart from them were Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore. No one else could try to get to them there. Somehow that felt even safer than Hogwarts.
"Why don't you go unpack and we'll head to the grocers. Think about what you want for dinner these next few nights," Severus said, dismissing the stasis ward he put on the house with his wand once they were inside.
"Okay," Rachel said, climbing the staircase and finding her room just as she left it. She set her broomstick in the corner and took the things out of her bag first and set them on her bed - her stuffed bunny, her two-way book, her camera, and her walkman with her cassettes. She hoped that she could go to a music store again this summer. And she needed more batteries, but she could see if they had them at the grocers.
Her trunk was a little more daunting. Clothes went away into her wardrobe first, books went back on her shelf, and she left the pile of used parchment in the bottom of her trunk to go through later. Much later.
Most of her odds and ends went in her desk or in her wardrobe drawers, though she shoved the small Triwizard Cup trophy into the back of her wardrobe with her Lockhart books where she wouldn't have to look at any of them. She still had enough chocolate frogs to get her through the summer, at least until they went to Diagon Alley, though all of her jelly slugs had been eaten. She knew that Millie had stocked up on sugar quills from Honeydukes the last time they'd been in Hogsmeade.
Deciding that was good enough for now, Rachel went back downstairs, oddly eager to walk into the village and spend some time away from magic.
Rachel kept herself busy once they were back at Fallow Farm. She brewed the Developing solution for her film the day after they arrived, wanting to get that out of the way in case the summer got busy. Later that afternoon she spread out on the kitchen table and organized her summer homework. She had essays to do for Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic, and Herbology, about fifty equations for Arithmancy, and a few pages of translations for Ancient Runes. Outlines were easy enough for most of her essays, though she set the Potions one aside for later so that she could ask Severus if he had any books outside of their textbooks that she should consult.
The next morning she sent a letter to Sirius and Remus, telling them she was away from Hogwarts now and hoped that she would be seeing them soon. Then after breakfast she developed the two rolls of film she'd taken over the past year and hooked them up to dry in the cellar. That afternoon she brewed a Wound-Cleansing potion with Severus, doing most of the work while he provided a steady background of tips and instruction. He also said that they could do some more of the cooking lessons that he had done at the start of his Potions Mastery.
In the evening Rachel went upstairs to her room, her headphones on now that she had some more batteries, and began work on her Transfiguration essay detailing inanimate conjurations. She had her two-way book open next to her, which she checked every few sentences that she wrote on her essay.
'Just got in from Diagon Alley, I convinced my dad that I really needed to go to Flourish and Blotts in person for this and had to explain that OWLs are like our O Levels and our NEWTs are like A Levels. I think I managed to impress upon him how important this is. After exchanging a few letters with Roland and taking a look at the books themselves, I think we should work from the Ogden's OWL Preparation Series,' Hermione wrote at about eight o'clock.
'That sounds fine, Hermione. Do you want help making an OWL revision schedule?' Theo wrote back almost immediately.
'Why don't I take the first stab at it and you can suggest any changes that you think need to be made. You're okay receiving owls from us now, yes?' Hermione asked.
'Yes, I can send and receive mail from anyone now, Mrs. Zabini doesn't mind,' Theo wrote.
'How are things at the Zabinis?' Rachel asked. She'd been waiting for an opportunity to ask, but she hadn't wanted to ambush Theo either.
'Good. A little strange, but good. Mrs. Zabini likes us to sit down and have long chats over tea with her. I'm getting to know Blaise a bit better too. He's friendlier to me now that we're away from everyone,' Theo wrote back.
'That's good,' Rachel finally wrote back. She supposed the most important part was that he was safe.
'I am going to murder Isobelle this summer! I found her in my room looking through my stuff. Thank Merlin we thought to password protect our two-way books,' Millie wrote, the words a little splattered.
'Try to refrain from murder, we only have seven weeks left until we're back at Hogwarts,' Hermione wrote.
'Yeah, but the problem is she's coming there with me! And mom keeps saying that I'll look out for her and there's nothing to worry about. Which, of course I will, but I'm not going to baby her like my parents do,' Millie wrote back.
'Time for an elaborate but non-harmful prank? I've got a long list from the ones that the twins have played on me over the years,' Ginny suggested.
'Or hide away somewhere? That's what I'm doing. My Gran says I'm going to become a plant if I stay out in the greenhouse any longer,' Neville added.
'I would if I could. I can't prank her either, she'd just go running to mom,' Millie wrote.
Rachel decided that she was sort of glad she didn't have siblings. Having Dudley as a cousin had been bad enough. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if she'd had to go to Hogwarts with him. Of course, if he'd gotten a Hogwarts letter the rest of the Dursleys would have promptly died from shock. She wondered if they would have started treating Dudley horribly if they'd found out he was magical. She suspected they wouldn't, that their love for him would have survived even that, but she still wondered a little bit.
'Rachel, do you want me to ask my Gran if you and Professor Snape can come over for our birthdays? I would understand if you didn't want to come after last time,' Neville wrote.
'Dare I ask what happened last time?' Ginny asked.
'My Gran thinks she should arrange a marriage for me and got it into her head that I should marry Rachel. She seems to understand now that it's not going to happen, but she keeps bringing people over for tea. So far we've had the Abbotts and the Edgecombes come by,' Neville wrote.
'This whole arranged marriages thing is barbaric. No one should be forced to marry anyone!' Hermione wrote back.
Rachel didn't disagree. 'Neville, I'd like to see you on your birthday, but it's up to you if you want to ask your Gran. I don't want to make the situation worse for you.'
'You won't make it worse. I'd like to see you. I'll ask Gran and I'll let you know what she says,' Neville wrote.
'Most of the time arranged marriages aren't made against the wishes of the people involved anymore. It's a pure-blood tradition that is slowly dying out, but pure-blood families will still try to ensure that their young children are socializing with the children they want them to potentially marry. There are also ways to get out of it,' Theo wrote.
'Good because I might need it. I can't wait until we can go back to school,' Neville wrote.
'Seven weeks. We can make it,' Millie wrote.
'And we can try to meet up in Diagon Alley for shopping, and we can see each other for my birthday party,' Ginny added.
Rachel frowned down at her book, wishing there was more she could do for her friends. At least when they were at Hogwarts they could solve any problems they had together. She really didn't know what she could do from here other than be supportive.
"You have a letter," Severus said when Rachel came downstairs from breakfast on Wednesday.
Rachel stopped by the kitchen table, catching a glimpse of the front page of the Daily Prophet from where Severus was reading it, and opened her letter.
'Rachel,
It's good to hear from you. Remus and I are just getting settled in. Never thought I'd be back in this hellhole. We've got enough pests in here to keep an exterminator busy for months, to say nothing of a dark creature catcher.
We'd love to see you. Dumbledore said you know where we are, so visiting shouldn't be a problem. Keep in touch and come when you can. Any day will work, except the fifteenth, that's the next Wizengamot meeting and I'll be away all day.
-Sirius'
She set the letter face-up on the table, hoping that Severus would at least glance at it. She wasn't quite sure how to bring up the topic of visiting Sirius and Remus with him. It was obvious that he didn't want her to, yet at the same time he hadn't directly objected to her spending time with them either.
With a bowl of cereal, Rachel sat down at the table and began to eat, reading the paper from where Severus was holding it up. The headlines were also covering the upcoming Wizengamot meeting - there were apparently a number of controversial proposals that were due to be voted on this time.
After a little while Severus set down the paper and sure enough his gaze strayed to the letter on the table. "I take it you wish to visit Black and Lupin?" he asked.
"I would like that," Rachel said. She was also curious about the rather mysterious headquarters, even if it seemed like Sirius was not happy about being there.
Severus nodded. "Write back and ask them about Friday. I need to meet with Albus on Friday and will be gone for a portion of the day."
"Thank you!" Rachel said, relieved that it was that easy.
"I want you to be cautious and use good judgement. I have little doubt that the Black household is filled with dark artifacts and other hazardous things. Do not do something simply because Black thinks it's a good idea," he said, his brow furrowing briefly.
"I will. From his letter, it sounds like Sirius doesn't want to be there," Rachel said, picking it up. "If it's his house and he doesn't want it, why not get rid of it?"
"Because it's a very old, large, and well warded home in the middle of London. Despite its drawbacks, it will be useful as headquarters. I imagine Black doesn't want to be there because he grew up there," Severus said.
"Oh," Rachel said, suddenly understanding. She wouldn't want to go back to Privet Drive, even if the Dursleys weren't there.
"I would recommend against asking Black about his family. His parents were both deeply involved with dark magic and his brother was a Death Eater. His cousins are Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange. And Andromeda Tonks - she broke away from the Black family as soon as she left Hogwarts, married a muggleborn," he explained.
Rachel already knew all of that, Sirius had told her a few months ago. "I guess it makes sense that people thought that he betrayed my parents, with his family like that."
"I wouldn't say so. Black very publicly broke away from his family while we were fifth years and was disavowed. There's no going back to something like that, the Death Eaters wouldn't have wanted him, except perhaps his brother Regulus." Severus shook his head. "I think everyone decided that there was enough evidence for Albus and the Ministry and left it at that. No one wanted to look closer."
"Did the Death Eaters target Sirius because he turned away from them?" she asked, thinking of Theo.
"Not that I'm aware of. By the time we finished at Hogwarts the war was building to its height. Your father, Black, and Lupin all joined the Order directly out of Hogwarts, so they were already on the front lines of the war effort," he said. "I don't think any of the Death Eaters will be inclined to target Theo outside of his father. Theo will be considered an enemy, but not someone they will specifically go after."
"Good," Rachel said, though she wondered if her thoughts were so transparent that Severus could read her like that.
"What are your plans for today?" Severus asked.
"I'm going to develop some more of my photos, I'm going to have to make some duplicates for people I think. Then I'll probably fly after lunch, unless you want the cellar right away, in which case I'll fly first and do my photos later," Rachel said.
Severus shook his head. "I do have a project I want to work on but I can work on the logistics in the morning. Do you want to try to cook a stew this evening without a recipe?"
"Sure," Rachel said. A stew seemed simple enough and she was eager to continue their cooking/potions lessons.
"We'll need to go to the grocers in the afternoon then so you can pick out what you want to put in it," he said.
"Sounds good to me. Do you need Gladys for anything?" she asked.
"No, you can use her to write to Black and Lupin," Severus said, getting up and bringing his dishes over to the sink.
Rachel finished her cereal, washed her dishes, and then wrote a quick letter back to Sirius and Remus asking if she could come visit on Friday before rolling it up and bringing it to Gladys. "Hi girl, fancy a trip to London?" she asked, rubbing the side of Gladys' head gently.
Gladys made a noise that Rachel decided to interpret as yes and attached her letter to Gladys' leg. "Have a good trip, fly safe." She watched as Gladys flew out the window. It was nice that Professor Dumbledore sent them the same owl. It wasn't quite like having a pet, but it was close enough for now.
With that taken care of, Rachel trooped down into the cellar and started taking down her photos from the line where she'd left them to dry. Since she got better light by the windows, she took them back upstairs and began to go through the stack.
The first ones were of the backyard and a sunset at Fallow Farm, followed shortly by pictures of Ginny's birthday party. After that it was back to Hogwarts, Hermione's birthday party and then their Halloween trip to Hogsmeade.
It was a little weird to watch the year progress. Rachel wouldn't exactly call it a bad year - she didn't think anything at Hogwarts could be as bad as the time she'd spent with the Dursleys - but it had been hard. She was glad there were no pictures of the tasks, she didn't want to be reminded of that at all.
There were a lot of pictures of the Yule Ball and it was nice to see everyone dressed up and happy. It was a little bit strange to see pictures of herself dancing. There was a picture of her and Theo dancing, one of her and Viktor dancing, and one of her and Neville dancing. There were also pictures of the rest of the group, and of Pansy and Draco, Daphne and Anthony, Cedric and Cho, Fleur and Roger, and Viktor and Hermione. Rachel set all of these aside, wanting to make copies for her friends. She was going to need to Owl Order another set of photo paper from Diagon Alley at this rate.
There were also a number of good Quidditch photos, both from the Slytherin vs Gryffindor game and from the time they'd played Chaser's Folly. She set aside any photos that had Ginny or the Weasley twins to make copies as well, remembering how much Mrs. Weasley had appreciated the photos last year.
The last photo was of their study group, this time in the Room of Requirement. Theo had worked out a spell that allowed them to take a picture while not standing directly with the camera, so all of them were in it. She thought they all looked more mature than they had at the beginning of the year, and it wasn't just because they were taller. Even though they were all smiling in the photo, there was an air of seriousness around it too. This was the photo that marked the change in their world - the Dark Lord was back and he would change everything.
Rachel tucked the photo away, deciding she was being a bit melodramatic, and went back down in the cellar to find the film for the photos she wanted to make copies of. It was like Professor Dumbledore had said, it was good to stay busy.
"Wait here, I'm going to check the apparation point and I don't want for you to be seen," Severus said.
"Okay," Rachel said. She was excited and nervous in equal measure. It was Friday and she was going to go spend most of the day at headquarters with Sirius and Remus.
Severus disappeared with a soft popping sound and Rachel sat down on the couch to wait. She hadn't seen Sirius and Remus since the night of the third task and she was hoping they weren't going to ask her about it. She thought Remus probably wouldn't, but it was more difficult to predict Sirius.
A few minutes later Severus reappeared. "The front doorstep is warded so that no one can see arrivals, we can apparate there. Are you ready?"
"Yes," Rachel said, getting to her feet.
"Any time you wish to come home, just send your Patronus to me. Don't feel like you have to stay to please them," Severus said.
"Okay," Rachel agreed, though she thought Severus was being a little bit overprotective. It was just Sirius and Remus. She took his arm and after a brief squeezing sensation with a little bit of vertigo thrown in they were standing on the doorstep to what seemed to be a very rundown row of terrace houses. She turned around to get a better look, but Severus kept his hand on her arm.
"Make sure to stay on this step, it's unlikely the house is being watched, but we don't want anyone to see that people are coming and going. As far as everyone else is concerned the Black estate has been abandoned," Severus said quietly before knocking on the door.
About a minute later the door opened with a heavy creak and Sirius appeared. "Come in, but be very quiet in the hallway," he whispered.
Curious, Rachel stepped inside. It was relatively dark in the hallway, but Rachel immediately saw why Professor Dumbledore said that headquarters needed to be cleaned before it could be used. There was dust, grime, and cobwebs everywhere and they were leaving footprints as they walked.
"Alright, we can talk normally now," Sirius said once they were in a kitchen that looked much cleaner than the hallway they were just in.
"Why did we have to be quiet?" Rachel asked.
"My mother. Her portrait is hanging in the front hallway and she rants and raves if she's disturbed. We've tried to get it down, but no luck so far. Might have Bill take a look at it the next time he's by," Sirius said.
"How are you, Rachel?" Remus asked, getting up from where he had the Daily Prophet spread out on the kitchen table and a cup of tea.
"I'm fine. How are both of you?" Rachel asked.
"Well enough," Remus said.
"Better if we weren't here, but we've got plenty to be getting on with," Sirius said, frowning as he looked around the kitchen.
"And you, Severus?" Remus asked.
"Fine," Severus said with a short nod. "I will be back for Rachel at five, or when she asks to leave."
"Let's make it a little later than that and she can have dinner with us, there's an Indian take-away place round the corner that's decent," Sirius said.
"She's already staying most of the day," Severus said. "You'll see her plenty over the summer."
"She's my goddaughter and I've barely seen her this year." Sirius squared his shoulders and folded his arms.
"Severus, I can come home for dinner if you want. Sirius, maybe we can do take-away for lunch instead," Rachel said, hoping that she could stop an outright fight. She didn't like it when people yelled at each other.
Severus turned away from Sirius to look at her. "You may stay for dinner if you wish to, just send me your Patronus. She's not to leave the house," he said after a long moment.
"We'll take good care of her, Severus," Remus said.
Severus looked doubtful. "I'll see myself out."
"So, that's how you do it, huh?" Sirius asked once they heard the front door open and close.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"Just bat your eyes at him and you get whatever you want?" Sirius asked, grinning at her.
"No! I don't," she said quickly, knowing that Severus already gave her way too many things without her asking for them.
"Sure you do. You have the perfect innocent expression. Lily used to pull that on the professors," Sirius said. "Don't bother trying it on me, I'm wise to it."
"I really don't," Rachel said, feeling herself flush. She didn't manipulate people, at least never on purpose.
"Stop teasing her," Remus said. "So there are a few things you should know while you're here."
"Okay?" Rachel asked, wondering if they were about to tell her about the war effort.
"The kitchen and the ground level bathroom are the only safe areas at the moment. Everywhere else is either filthy, infested with dark creatures, or contains dark artifacts. Don't go into any other rooms alone for the time being," Remus explained.
"Also, never go in the attic," Sirius added.
"What's in the attic?" Rachel asked, imagining ghouls and poltergeists.
"No one knows, so don't go in there," Sirius said with a nod.
Rachel couldn't tell if he was joking so she settled for nodding back.
"I hope you don't mind doing a little bit of work while you're here, we're hoping to tackle the sitting room today," Remus said.
"I don't mind, I want to help," Rachel said.
"Let us know right away if you get bit or scratched by something, also, let us be the ones to open things," Remus said.
"This damn house," Sirius said. "We'd be better off burning to the ground and starting new."
"I know, it's simply not practical," Remus said, patting Sirius' arm. "This was Sirius' childhood home."
"And believe me, when I left, I intended to never come back, let alone inherit it," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Looks just like when I left, just filthier."
Rachel nodded. She could easily imagine returning to Privet Drive and staring at the same floral wallpaper and seeing the door to her cupboard every day. Just the idea of it made her skin crawl. "What if it looked different? Would that help? Could we put up different wallpaper, or paint maybe, and change around the furniture?"
"That's not a bad idea. We'd have to do all the remodeling ourselves, but a few spells should sort that out," Remus said.
"It couldn't hurt," Sirius said as he looked around the room. "New furniture, something that doesn't look like it belongs in the dark ages, open up the curtains. With enough work this place might look unrecognizable."
"Well, we should get everything out before bringing anything new in, we want to wipe out the infestations for good," Remus said.
"Infestations of what?" Rachel asked.
"Oh, doxies and chizpurfles mostly, though I don't doubt there's a boggart or two lurking around. The rest are rats and spiders and the like," Remus said. "We've got some Doxycide on hand. You've mastered the Knockback jinx?"
"I have," Rachel said. That had been one of the spells they'd practiced for the third task.
"We'll vanish most of the pests, but doxies are resistant to that. Their bite is venomous, so if you even get a slight wound from them show us immediately," Remus said. "Anything I'm missing, Sirius?"
"I'm sure Rachel can manage doxies and chizpurfles," Sirius said. "She got past a dragon without a scratch. Let's get started then. The sooner we clear this place out, the sooner we can make some changes. Remember, quiet in the hallway."
Rachel followed them down the hallway and Sirius opened a door into a room that would have at one time been very fancy and old-fashioned, but was now fairly disgusting.
"Alright, let's leave the curtains for after lunch, I'd rather not be spraying Doxycide just before we eat," Remus said. "I'll tackle the sofas. Sirius, why don't you and Rachel start on some of the cabinets."
"Never give Remus a project," Sirius said as he walked over to the floor to ceiling cabinets on the side of the room opposite the curtains. "He was like this when we were at Hogwarts. Always the leader of the group when we had an assignment due."
"By which you mean you copied my work while we were at Hogwarts," Remus said, brandishing his wand at a sofa and a cloud of dust rose from it.
"You didn't mind," Sirius said. "Alright, stand back, something might jump out."
Rachel readied her wand just in case and wondered a little bit about Sirius, and Remus for that matter. She never would have imagined that Remus would allow someone to copy his schoolwork. When nothing came out of the cabinet she approached again and peered inside. There were a lot of things in there, from potions vials, to delicate silver instruments and blades, to piles of parchment. "What are we going to do with all of it?"
"See if we need it for anything and then throw the rest away," Sirius said. "All of the potions vials can go, we're not opening things that have been sitting here for at least ten years. The parchment can go too," Sirius said. He waved his wand and a trash bin appeared. "We'll vanish everything out of there when we're done."
"Okay," Rachel said. She began to sift through items, putting things that she didn't know what to do with in a pile for Sirius to look at and throwing away the random clutter.
"How are you doing, since we saw you last?" Sirius asked when he emerged from the next cabinet.
"Fine," Rachel said, feeling her muscles tense as she prepared for Sirius to ask her about the graveyard.
"Good. Sometimes things just happen and you have to keep going," Sirius said, dropping a pile of things into the bin.
Rachel nodded. That was true, in her experience. The world didn't stop while she sorted herself out. She turned to drop more parchment in the bin and was surprised to see something sneaking up to it. "Sirius?"
"Yeah?" Sirius asked from the cabinet he was working on.
"There's something here," she said, realizing after a moment that it was a very old House Elf, dressed in a rag loincloth.
"Kreacher," Sirius said, sounding disgusted. "What are you doing?"
"Helping, master, helping of course," Kreacher said.
"Well go help somewhere else," Sirius said, his face twisting in anger. "Go!"
The House Elf shuffled back out of the room.
"Who was that?" Rachel asked, feeling uncomfortable with what she'd just seen.
"Kreacher, my mother's old House Elf. He's been alone in here for ten years and it's driven him mad. Stay away from him, he's not safe," Sirius said, scowling before returning to his cabinet.
Rachel frowned. "He's part of your family?"
"No, he's just a House Elf, could hardly believe he was still alive when I first saw him," Sirius said, not emerging from the cupboard.
"It's best to leave Kreacher alone, he's not very comfortable with us," Remus said after a moment.
"Does he need help?" she asked, looking at Remus.
Remus met her gaze. "No, he's just very old and set in his ways. He needs some space, we don't ask anything of him."
Rachel returned to her work, but her mind was unsettled. She'd seen House Elves at Hogwarts, and at the Longbottom's and the Malfoy's, but none of them had seemed like that. Sirius had said he wasn't family, but he obviously wasn't an employee like the House Elves at Hogwarts either. And Sirius had said he'd been alone here for ten years. Was Kreacher not allowed to leave?
Deciding to ask Severus about House Elves, Rachel continued to clean, casting the Scouring charm after every shelf she cleared. At least they could use magic for this. She couldn't imagine cleaning this house the muggle way.
"You have mail," Severus said, nodding to a letter on the small table in front of the couch.
"Thanks," Rachel said, covering up a yawn. She'd stayed with Sirius and Remus until seven and they'd still only managed to clean out a single room. She opened the letter and frowned.
'Rachel,
I know it's probably weird for me to write, considering we talk to each other basically every day. I just couldn't put this in our two-way books.
We need to talk, privately and face to face. I wanted to while we were at Hogwarts, but when Professor Dumbledore said I needed to go with Mrs. Zabini I felt that I had to. There's something I have to tell you about and it cannot wait until we go back to school in September.
Do you think Professor Snape could bring you to the Zabini's for about an hour, sometime soon? If not, do you think he would mind if I came to your place? Or if we met at Hogwarts if that's not a possibility?
Let me know.
Theo'
She wished she knew what Theo needed to talk to her about that he couldn't say in front of Severus.
"Problem?" Severus asked.
Rachel folded the letter and slipped into her pocket. "It's from Theo. Do you think I could visit him at the Zabini's?"
"Did he say that there's a problem at the Zabini's?" Severus asked.
"No, I don't think there's a problem with the Zabinis. He just wants to talk with me about something that he feels he can't put into a letter," she said.
Severus frowned, but he nodded. "Alright. Ask him to ask Mrs. Zabini when she might feel comfortable having guests and to let us know when."
"Thanks," Rachel said.
"If there is a problem with the Zabinis, I want you to let me know so that we can do something about it," he continued.
"I will," she said. She definitely wasn't going to stand by and not do anything while Theo got hurt. Not again.
"Do you need to hold the letter that close to your face in order to read it?" Severus asked.
"Well, Theo has small handwriting," Rachel said, a little embarrassed.
"I apologize, I said earlier that I was going to take you to have your eyes checked and I haven't made that appointment yet. I'll make it for next week," Severus said.
"It's okay, things got…" She didn't want to say busy, because that wasn't quite right. Just a lot of stuff had happened between then and now. "What do you know about House Elves?"
"That's a very broad question, can you be more specific?" Severus asked.
Rachel looked away as she tried to put her question into words. "I've seen the House Elves at Hogwarts, and they seem okay. And I've seen the House Elves at the Malfoy's and at the Longbottom's, and they seemed okay too. But the House Elf at Sirius' house, he doesn't seem like he's very well, and Sirius and Remus didn't seem to care."
"Black has a House Elf?" he asked.
"He said the House Elf was his mother's, but he also said he wasn't part of his family," Rachel said, trying to make sense of it.
"Most people would not say that a House Elf is a member of their family, they don't look at it that way. House Elves are bound to serve their masters, legally they're more like property than they are like people," Severus explained. "That is why Black inherited the House Elf after his mother died."
"You mean they're slaves?" Rachel asked, not quite believing it.
"Not exactly. House Elf and wizarding culture is intertwined back over a millennium. House Elves used to be wild, using their magic for various mischief, but there was a House Elf who was captured and then rescued by a wizarding family. The House Elf bound himself to the family, promising to serve them for the rest of his life. Other wizarding families began to capture House Elves, in an elaborate system of capturing and rescuing, so that the House Elves would become indebted to the wizards. Over time the House Elf culture changed so that they became incredibly devoted to their wizarding families and it was considered cruel to send a House Elf away from the family that it cared for." Severus stopped and took a sip of his tea. "There are laws governing how House Elves are to be treated, but they're rarely enforced."
"So Professor Dumbledore doesn't pay the House Elves that work at Hogwarts?" she asked, uncomfortable with what she was being told.
"No, it would be a deep insult to a House Elf to offer to pay it. I think it's important to keep in mind that House Elves have powerful magic, more powerful than ours in some ways. Their magic is bound to ours, in that they have to obey the orders of their master, but they have a lot of leeway besides that. House Elves don't wish to be free," Severus said.
Rachel didn't like this at all. "Shouldn't something be done about it?"
"It would be difficult to change on a number of fronts. The current politics in the Wizengamot would never vote for measures for changing House Elf legislation, there's too much old pure-blood money there. And there's the House Elves themselves to consider. If you ask them, most of them will tell you that they like things as they are," he said.
She didn't know what to think. Slavery was obviously wrong, but it was clearly more complicated than that. "If a House Elves master tells the House Elf to do something they don't want to do, or something that's harmful to the House Elf, are they forced to do it?" she asked.
"Yes, though again there is legislation that prohibits people from doing that very thing, not that it is well enforced," Severus said. "What do you think about it?"
"I don't know. I suppose the answer isn't just free the House Elves, but to do something where they had a choice, where they could leave if their family was hurting them," Rachel said.
"Perhaps. It's one of those issues, such as werewolf rights, where we can make some progress on it during years when we have a more moderate Wizengamot and less with a more conservative Wizengamot. For the time being I want you to be careful around the Black House Elf. As I've said, they have very powerful magic, and if it is deranged there's no saying what it might do," Severus said.
Rachel nodded, but she wanted to talk to Kreacher, somewhere away from Sirius and Remus. Maybe she could see what he needed or wanted.
"Did you otherwise have a good time with Black and Lupin?" Severus asked.
"It was fine. Remus had to vanish an entire sofa because there were rats living in it, but otherwise it was good. We had something called chicken tikka masala, which was pretty good, but also a little bit spicy," Rachel said. "Did your meeting with Professor Dumbledore go alright?"
"Yes, it was informative," Severus said.
War stuff, Rachel recognized. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, not right now at least. "I'm going to go get ready for bed and read for a while. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," he replied.
Rachel went upstairs, put Theo's letter on her desk so she'd remember to reply to it tomorrow, and then sank down on her bed. It had been a long day.
Rachel folded her arms and stared out at the pools. She couldn't believe Severus was making her do this. He had very casually told her that her first swimming lesson would be on Monday and that she needed a swimsuit. Rachel had resisted as much as she'd dared, but he had remained firm. She needed to learn how to swim.
She couldn't see where she would ever be in another situation where she would have to swim, but then she hadn't expected it to happen in the first place. They'd gone shopping on Saturday and she had insisted that she buy a pair of board shorts and a swim shirt to go over her new purple swimsuit. Severus had just nodded and said that he didn't mind if she preferred more modest apparel.
So now, here she was at ten in the morning, dressed in her swim clothes, and waiting with Severus for the instructor to arrive. There was a group of young kids in one of the pools, splashing and swimming, and there were several people in another pool doing laps in the lanes.
"Professor Snape?"
Rachel turned and saw a young woman, maybe in her early twenties, approaching. Her long dark hair was also tied back in a plait and she wore a red single piece swimsuit.
"Ms. Appleby," Severus said, inclining his head.
"I promise I'm better at teaching swimming than I was at brewing potions," she said with a smile. "And you must be Rachel."
"Yes, ma'am," Rachel said, guessing that she must have attended Hogwarts.
"No need to call me ma'am, just call me Fiona. Have you ever gone swimming before?" she asked.
"Yes, but I used the Bubblehead charm and Gillyweed," Rachel said.
"Well the plan is to get you to be able to swim well enough you won't need either of those. Let's go down into the water. I'll bring her back to you in forty five minutes," Fiona said, nodding to Severus.
"I'll be right there," Severus told Rachel, pointing to a few chairs near the side of the pool.
Rachel followed Fiona into the pool, noticing that they had an open area while there were swimmers doing laps on the other side. They went down into the pool until the water came up past Rachel's stomach.
"So it sounds like you know a little bit about swimming, do you know how to float?" Fiona asked.
"No," Rachel said, feeling a little bit chilled even though the water was fairly warm.
"That's a fairly good place to start as you'll use that whether you're swimming on your front or just floating on your back. We'll also work on treading water, but that can wait for another day," Fiona said. "Do you want a Bubblehead charm to start with while we practice, that way you don't have to be worried about the water coming over your face?"
"Yes, please," Rachel said, though she didn't want to float at all.
Fiona pulled her wand out of the straps on her arm and pointed it at Rachel.
Rachel felt the familiar sensation of the Bubblehead charm forming around her face and reached up to touch it just to be sure it was in place.
"Alright, so it's easier to float at first if you have your arms and legs spread out. Fill your lungs with air and tip your head back a little bit. Watch me do it first so you can see what it looks like," Fiona said. A moment later she dropped down into the water and kicked her legs up so she was floating on top of it. She stood up again. "Now you can give it a try."
Biting down on her lower lip, Rachel tried to lean back in the water, but wound up sinking down into it up to her shoulders instead.
"It's okay, you're going to kick your legs up now. I'm going to be right here and help hold you up," Fiona said, moving closer.
Rachel kicked her legs up and a moment later she felt Fiona's hands on her back supporting her. A shiver of revulsion ran through her and she struggled to get away, submerging herself entirely in the water before she managed to get her legs under herself to stand up. "Sorry," she said, glancing away to see if Severus was watching. He was.
"That's alright. I should have asked before. Have you had a bad experience with water?" Fiona asked.
Feeling herself flush, Rachel looked down at the water. "Sort of. I didn't drown or anything."
"Most people don't drown, for most people it's someone throwing them in the water when they don't know how to swim, or someone holding them underwater as a joke. It's completely understandable to be nervous," Fiona said.
Rachel stared, she had no idea people would do that to each other, but she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised.
"It's okay to be nervous, but remember I'm right here and I'm not going to let you go underwater, and your father is sitting right there and he's not going to let anything happen to you either," Fiona said. "Do you want to try again, and this time I can use the Flotation charm on you instead of holding you up?"
"Okay," Rachel said. That sounded better than Fiona touching her.
Fiona drew her wand again. "Push up onto your back and I'll use the charm."
Rachel took a deep breath and reminded herself that she had the Bubblehead charm so she was going to be able to breathe even if she went underwater. She leaned back and then kicked her legs up once she felt the water beneath her shoulders. A moment later she found herself floating on her back rather than sinking.
"There you go, the charm is keeping you up right now, but I want you to let your arms and legs spread out. You're not going to stay floating if you're all together. Have you ever seen leaves floating on water?" Fiona asked.
"Yes," Rachel said. All of her muscles felt tense and it was hard work to bring her arms away from her stomach.
"Think of being like a leaf on the water, the further you are spread out, the more you're distributing your weight on the surface of the water. Try to take slow even breaths. When you don't have the charm you'll sink a little bit when you exhale because the air is helping to keep you afloat," Fiona said, her tone very gentle.
Rachel stared up at the ceiling and realized that it had been painted to look like the sky, with thin clouds moving steadily across the blue. It wasn't quite like the ceiling of the Great Hall, which might as well have been the outside for how real it looked, but it was still pretty.
"Okay, I'm going to remove the Flotation charm and I want you to try to remain floating. It's probably going to take a few times, so don't worry if you feel yourself sinking. All you need to do is to put your feet down and you can stand up if you need to," Fiona said. "Ready?"
Trying to relax as much as possible, which she had to admit wasn't very relaxed, Rachel nodded. "Okay."
She felt herself start to sink as soon as the Flotation charm was removed and arched her back as she tried to stay up. She felt her legs flail and splashed for a few moments before she managed to orient herself and stand back up.
"Pretty good, you have the right idea. Ready to try again?" Fiona asked.
"Yeah," Rachel said, grateful for the Bubblehead charm keeping the water off of her face.
By the end of the lesson she could float for almost a minute after the Flotation charm was removed.
"Good work, I'll see you next Monday," Fiona said as they got out of the pool.
"Thanks," Rachel said, accepting the towel Severus was handing her.
"Did you have a good lesson?" Severus asked when Fiona had left.
"I prefer Hogwarts lessons," Rachel said, using the towel to get the pool water out of her hair.
"I know, but this is a necessity. I wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't important," Severus said. "It's a life skill."
"Fiona said we could start swimming face down next time, after I've had more practice floating," Rachel said.
"Good, that's good progress," he said.
"Can we go home? I want to shower," Rachel asked, though mostly she wanted to be out of her swim clothes. It was cold now that she was wet.
"We can. Let's go to the lobby, we can apparate from there," Severus said.
Rachel followed him out of the pool area. "Do adults really go swimming just for fun?"
"Yes, some do. Sometimes people who have had injuries prefer to swim for exercise because it's less painful for them," Severus said.
That at least made sense. Rachel didn't think she'd ever go swimming unless she had to. At least hopefully by the time school started she'd be able to swim just as well as her friends could.
"Everything alright?" Severus asked as Rachel steadied herself against his arm right after they apparated into the house and adjusted her new glasses again. He had made the appointment for her eyes to be checked as quickly as he could, feeling guilty that he had forgotten when she had mentioned difficulties with her vision a month ago. A lot had happened since then, but still, it was not something that should have slipped his mind.
"Yes, just a bit odd. The Healer said it might take a day or two to adjust to the stronger magnification. I can't wait until I'm old enough for the potion and spell they talked about. I'd love not to wear glasses," Rachel said, fiddling with her glasses before peering around the room.
"It will happen soon enough," Severus said. If anything she was growing up too fast. "What do you want for lunch?"
"Sandwiches are fine by me. We should have pizza one day. Have you ever had pizza?" she asked, leading the way into the kitchen.
"Once, at your mother's house," Severus said. That had been the summer between their second and third year at Hogwarts. He had seen Lily almost every day that summer and they'd spent their afternoons in the park, sharing books and talking about almost anything that crossed their minds.
"Did you like it?" Rachel asked, taking out the loaf of bread.
"It was alright, though it's not something I would choose to eat with any frequency," he said, passing her a plate from the cupboard.
"Did my mom like pizza?" she asked.
"She seemed to enjoy it, though I don't believe it was something her family ate often," Severus said, barely catching himself in time before he mentioned Petunia. Petunia had fussed that pizza was gross and lower class. She'd been looking at Severus while she said this.
"Sometimes I think I'm glad it's just the two of us living here," Rachel said, not looking up from where she was arranging turkey and cheese on a slice of bread.
"Oh?" Severus asked, not sure what to make of that.
"Families are complicated," she said.
"That's true enough," he said, wondering if she was thinking of Theo or if another one of her friends was having difficulties. "Is there something you'd like to talk about?"
That time she did look at him. "No. You're just easy to get along with."
Severus thought that Rachel might be the only person in the world who thought that. "I'm glad you feel that way," he said. While Rachel was in general very agreeable, she worried him more often than not, moreso as time went on.
"You're too nice to me, really. You know that, right? Sirius thinks I manipulate you," Rachel said, taking her sandwich to the kitchen table.
"Black's view on human interaction is somewhat limited," he said, rolling his eyes and returning to making his own sandwich. The more he heard about Black and Lupin the less he wanted Rachel spending time with them.
"He was like this before Azkaban?" she asked.
"Can you be more specific?" he asked, reminding himself that he'd decided to limit what he said about Black and Lupin around Rachel except when necessary.
There was a long silence as Rachel seemed to think. "He seems very angry, but like he's also trying to hide it," she said finally.
Severus sat down at the kitchen table across from Rachel. "Black has always had a certain vicious streak. His brother Regulus was a year younger than us and they used to get into fights whenever they crossed each other's path. Anything to do with Black's family would rile him up, and I imagine Azkaban only made that worse."
"I don't get angry very much. Even at things where I probably should. Instead, I just feel blank when it happens," Rachel said, peeling away the crusts of the bread while she spoke.
"Does that happen with other emotions too?" he asked, suspecting that it did from the way he'd seen her react at various times.
Rachel tilted her head, all of her focus on her sandwich. "Sometimes. Sometimes I'll feel upset and then it just vanishes. Or I'll think about something that is sad and I just don't feel anything."
Severus frowned, wishing he wasn't so far out of this depth. Anger he had a lot of experience in. He had felt the blankness that Rachel described, but only because he had cultivated it during his time as a spy. It didn't happen unless he sought it out. "Have you talked with Torey about it?" he settled for asking.
"No. Is it a bad thing?" she asked, looking at him, her hazel eyes seeming to search for something.
"It's useful sometimes to feel things, just as it's useful to control your response to what you feel. I don't know that not feeling at all is wise," he said.
"I feel some things. I can feel happy, or worried, or scared sometimes. Sometimes when I don't expect to," Rachel said. "I suppose I can ask Torey about it."
"That might not be a bad idea," he said, raising his sandwich to his mouth and then abruptly dropping it at the alarm in his mind.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, her eyes wide as she watched him.
"I'm fine. The wards at Spinner's End have been breached," he said, mentally dismissing the connection.
"Do you think the Dark Lord is there?" she asked.
"No, it's broad daylight. It will be Death Eaters searching for us," Severus said. He wondered what had taken so long, he'd been expecting this since the students went home from Hogwarts.
"Should someone go and stop them?" Rachel asked.
"No. There's nothing there for them to find and any property damage can be mitigated. I'll let Albus know about the breach and I'll go with someone to check on the property another day," Severus said. Preferably he'd bring Bill Weasley - he'd much rather have a curse breaker checking to see if they'd left any nasty spells behind than anyone else.
"They can't find us here," Rachel said, not quite making it a question.
"They can't. The only person who can reveal our location is Minerva and she'd sooner die," Severus promised. "We're safe here."
Rachel nodded, but didn't look less worried.
Severus wondered who had gone on the mission. Possibly Lucius, who would feel that Severus betrayed him personally. He wouldn't have gone alone. Perhaps Wardell, or Crabbe and Goyle. The thought of Pettigrew in his house was revolting. Maybe even Barty Crouch Jr. They had still to hear an explanation of how Barty Crouch Jr. was even alive, let alone out of Azkaban.
"I'm going to go work on an essay," Rachel said, getting up from the table.
"You're not going to finish eating?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not right now. I'll put it in the fridge and try again later," Rachel said.
"Is there something you'd like instead? An apple perhaps?"
"No, maybe later," she said, quickly leaving the room.
Severus sighed and reminded himself that he needed to talk with Torey, sooner rather than later. This war would only get worse before it got better and he somehow needed to see Rachel through it.
Early on Thursday morning Rachel turned off the shower and reached for where she'd left her towel. She had awoken early from strange dreams that she didn't quite remember. It hadn't been a nightmare, but she still had sat up in her bed sweating and feeling a strange sense of anticipation. She hadn't been able to fall back asleep, even after she spent some time on the third animagus meditation.
She still didn't have a good feel for that meditation. The idea of a soul was still very nebulous to her. Sirius had said it was about recognizing the essence of who you were, but she really didn't have any idea where to begin with that.
After wringing out her hair, which was now quite long and fell well past her shoulder blades, Rachel wrapped herself in her towel and stepped out of the shower. She dried off fairly quickly and then stepped so that she was in front of the sink. Or, more importantly, in front of the mirror. She'd had a feeling about this for some time, but hadn't quite worked up the courage to check out the problem. There was no real privacy in the bathrooms at Hogwarts, and the mirror in her bathroom in Severus' quarters was very small.
She wiped the steam from the mirror and then cautiously opened her towel. As she'd suspected, she had a problem.
She knew that developing breasts was a perfectly natural thing for a girl of her age, and yet at the same time she'd never really expected it to happen to her. She wasn't significantly taller than she'd been at this time last year and she'd sort of imagined that the rest of her body would refuse to develop as well. Peering down at her chest she curiously poked at herself and found that the new swelling tissue was rather springy but was otherwise unremarkable.
That settled it. She couldn't possibly go back to Hogwarts for her fifth year without having a bra.
It shouldn't be that big of a problem. She knew her roommates all wore bras, because she'd seen them changing, and she'd seen Scarlett changing hers in the girls locker room as well. Given the way that Hermione's body had changed over the past few years she suspected she wore a bra as well.
The real problem was that she couldn't ask Severus. It was one thing for him to take her clothes shopping and for her to sneak a set of underpants in with the other clothes. This was something else entirely. She could not imagine going downstairs and casually over a breakfast of toast and eggs announcing that she needed a bra. That just wasn't happening.
Rachel changed into clean clothes, deciding that her shirt was loose enough for now that it wasn't obvious that she needed a bra, and went back into her bedroom. There was really only one thing to do. Thank god Hermione knew just about everything, and if she didn't know, she'd know how to find out.
She sat down at her desk with a quill and a piece of parchment and began to write.
'Dear Hermione,
I hope you're doing well and that you're having a good summer. Make sure to actually take a break. There's plenty of time to do summer homework and make our schedule for OWL revision. Read something fun too, not just the OWL revision books.
I'm hoping you can possibly help me with something. I need a bra and I don't want to ask Professor Snape. It's just too embarrassing. If I send you some money do you think you could buy me one and send it to me?
I'll ask Gladys to stay with you for a bit so you don't have to go out to the owl post office.
Hopefully our book lists will be here soon and we can make plans for going to Diagon Alley. We'll definitely try to plan around your holiday with your family so you can join us.
I'll probably chat with you in our two-way books before you see this.
Thanks,
-Rachel'
Rachel read it twice before deciding it was about as good as it was going to get. She rolled up the parchment and turned at the sound of footsteps in the hallway.
"You're up early, were you unable to sleep?" Severus asked from her doorway.
"I slept most of the night," Rachel said. Which was mostly true - she'd slept from around eleven last night to nearly four in the morning.
"You're taking a break from school work?" he asked, looking at the parchment she was holding.
"Yes, this is just a letter," Rachel said as she stood up. "Do you mind if I use Gladys?"
"No, that's fine. Would you like to brew a potion today?" Severus asked.
"Yeah, that would be fun. What are we going to brew?" she asked, following him down the stairs.
"I was thinking we could do a joint study on Dreamless sleep and how we could potentially alter it to not cause a person to fall asleep," he said. "Normally we would not go into modifying potions until your seventh year, but I think we could make a start on it."
"Really?" Rachel asked. "Is it possible to do that?"
"I don't know. The drawback will be that we will need to send any modifications we make to the Potions Guild for testing. I will not use you as a test subject," Severus said. "Eggs?"
"That's probably a good thing, I'm not sure I'd want to be a test subject," Rachel said. "I can cook the eggs. You like yours over easy?"
"Yes. I'm not teaching you to cook with the intention that you should cook for the household," Severus said.
Rachel got the carton of eggs from the fridge. "I really don't mind as long as I'm not cooking every meal. Do you want two eggs or three?"
"Two," Severus said. "Any time you don't wish to cook, you merely have to say so."
"Thanks," Rachel said, pulling out the frying pan and getting to work.
The day passed fairly quickly. Rachel sent her letter to Hermione and then spent the morning in the cellar with Severus as they brewed a cauldron of Dreamless Sleep so that Rachel could be familiar with the base potion. While they brewed, Severus quizzed her about the ingredients and their interactions and then they talked about possible substitutions and changes.
It wasn't as simple as just leaving out the ingredients that caused the drinker to go to sleep. Potions had to be balanced, reactions had to be countered, and in the end the potion had to do the thing you wanted it to do in the first place. Rachel thought it was a wonder that any potions managed to be invented at all.
After lunch Rachel spent about two hours flying, chasing the Snitch all through the yard. She was looking forward to playing with the Slytherin team again, even though she wasn't looking forward to finding a Chaser and a Beater. She suspected that was not going to be as easy as it had been last time.
In the afternoon she went up to her bedroom and wrote the second half of her essay for History of Magic. This time the essay was on the giant wars and Rachel very much hoped they weren't going to spend their fifth year on the giant wars the same way they'd spent their fourth year on the goblin rebellions.
She'd finished her Transfiguration essay already, figuring she should do that while the school year was still fresh in her mind, and she'd made a good start on the Arithmancy equations. Severus kept telling her to take a break, but really summer wasn't that long and she didn't want to rush to do her homework at the end of August.
They were having dinner - steak and kidney pie - when Gladys returned with a letter attached to her leg.
"Thank you, have a rest," Rachel told Gladys, pausing to refill her water dish before taking the letter from her.
Even though she wanted to read the letter now, Rachel set it aside until they'd finished with dinner. She unrolled it while she was walking into the living room, bumping her shin against the low table as she made her way to the couch.
'Dear Rachel,
I'm glad you wrote to me, I know our two-way books aren't the most private way of communicating. I'm having a good summer. I'm continuing to take the Daily Prophet, and while I was being careful to make sure my parents didn't see the headlines, it seems that was unnecessary. I can't believe how callus they're being. It sounds like they're actually going to cast a vote of no confidence in the Wizengamot against Professor Dumbledore! I suppose politics is ugly, whether in the magical world or in the non-magical world.
I'm making good headway on our revision schedule - I think I'll be able to send it to Theo for his review by the end of next week. Once I get it back from him and have made changes I'll send it to you too so you can see if we're missing anything. I'm also spending a fair amount of time in the local library. It's like I forget during the school year how many other things there are in the world and how much information the magical world just doesn't have. As much as I love Hogwarts it's sometimes like being stuck in the middle ages when it comes to some fields of study.
Normally I would be happy to purchase something for you and send it to you, but in this instance you would actually need to be there. Bras have two different measurements - the band and the cup - that you need to consider, and they all fit rather differently depending on the brand. I'm not sure how they work in the magical world, I've only ever shopped for them in the muggle world. Really, the easiest thing would be if you came on a shopping trip with me and my mom. I've already asked her and she said she'd be willing to take me and my friends out to a few shops - we could ask Millie to come with us if you think it would be a good idea to invite her.
Ask Professor Snape and let me know what he says. We can figure out a date relatively soon, as long as it's before the last week of July.
Love, Hermione'
Rachel frowned. It wasn't exactly the response she'd hoped for. "Severus?"
"Yes?" he asked from his armchair.
"Would it be alright if I went on a shopping trip in a muggle town with Hermione and her mom, maybe Millie too?" Rachel asked, knowing it was a long shot.
"What town?" Severus asked.
"I don't know, probably somewhere near her home," Rachel said. "It should be relatively safe, shouldn't it? The Death Eaters wouldn't know to look for me there?"
"It should be relatively safe, yes. Is the shopping trip something you and I could do together and then you could visit with Hermione in her home?" Severus asked.
Rachel fidgeted. "Not exactly. We just need to go a few places. Clothes and stuff. Girl stuff."
Severus nodded, seeming to understand. "We'd need additional precautions. I'd want you to have a portkey, which I would have to make. It would be illegal, but since you don't know how to apparate, I think it's necessary."
"How illegal?" Rachel asked, not wanting him to break the law for her.
"A fine, nothing we can't deal with, but preferably you won't have to use the portkey. It would be just in case of emergencies," he said.
"Why is making a portkey illegal?" she asked.
"Primarily because most places that have anti-apparation wards do not have anti-portkey wards as well. They can also be used to travel internationally while apparating cannot take you that far. Strictly speaking all portkeys are created and authorized by the Ministry," Severus explained.
"Are you sure you want me to have one, if it's that much trouble?" Rachel asked.
"Positive. You're not going anywhere without a way to escape if you need it. I don't wish to place restrictions on your social life, you're already too isolated while we're away from Hogwarts, but safety is my paramount concern," Severus said. "The other issue is that you would need to leave behind Mrs. Granger if you used the portkey, regardless of the danger. Muggles cannot be transported by portkey."
Rachel frowned, imagining Death Eaters attacking and just leaving someone in trouble. "What happens if they try?"
"Nothing, they just get left behind," Severus said.
"Can you apparate a muggle?" she asked.
"Yes, but it is much more unpleasant for them than it is for us. They also cannot use the floo," he said. "Do you still wish to go?"
She looked down at her lap as she thought about it. "It's very unlikely that the Death Eaters will attack while we're there, isn't it?"
"It's unlikely, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. We must always be prepared for the worst case scenario," Severus said.
"Can I tell Hermione about the portkey?" Rachel asked.
"I'm afraid not, as I mentioned it is quite illegal," he said.
Rachel thought about it some more. She really didn't think that there would be Death Eaters in a random muggle shopping center. "What if we disguised me? Not with Polyjuice, but just enough to hide my scar and change my hair? Would that make it safer?"
"That would also be a good precaution," Severus said with a nod.
"Okay. I think I want to go. Should I ask Hermione and Millie what day they can go?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, if that's what you want to do," Severus said.
"It is. Thank you for letting me," Rachel said as she got to her feet. She had some more letters to write.
