Alexandra's confinement ended much sooner that Alduin was ready for it to do so, and it was time to throw a party in celebration of Wynn's birth. The naming ceremony was to be very private, with only those friends and family who followed at least roughly similar religious traditions – plus the Shafiqs, who were as far removed from Alduin's religion as they could get, but close enough friends to come anyway - , but after that, it would turn into a full-blown garden party.

The Shafiqs came first, in fact, and Abdullah took one look at Alduin and dragged him into a corner for a quick word. "Alduin, you have to talk to me," he said. "Father refused to tell me what was wrong, but he did indicate you revealed something rather dramatic to them, and frankly, you look like shit."

"Is it so obvious?" Alduin asked tiredly.

"Not to most others, I suppose, but Isobel can tell just as well as I do, and so will Mercurius, Ginevra...or Eliza."

"The last two aren't coming," Alduin muttered, feeling even more tired.

"Of course. Still, you need to talk to someone, or you'll crack. Me, Isobel, Mercurius, I don't care." He sighed. "It's a pity you and Alexandra decided to be monogamous for the moment, otherwise I'd recommend..."

Alduin stared. "Coming from you," he said, "it means I really must look like shit." Then he sighed. "You know that is all over and done with."

"Yes – I don't understand why, though. You ended it because of Eliza, and that is truly over, for obvious reasons, but..."

Alduin shook his head. "No," he said. "Not possible, and unnecessary. But you're right, I do need to talk to someone. It's just...I don't want to bother Alexandra with it all. I told her some of it, but...She has her hands full enough, with Wynn."

"I understand – I still remember what it was like when Abdulaziz and Gamila were little – but you will need to tell her in time. For now, however...just talk to us, okay?"

Alduin nodded tiredly and Abdullah left him to be sociable and to admire the baby, as etiquette demanded.

Fortunately, it was still only the Shafiqs who were present, so no one much witnessed their whispered conversation. Muhammad was looking at him with understanding, and Isobel smiled encouragingly. Alduin tried not to resent it.

Having no wish to talk about things right now, he headed to Mrs. Muhammad, who could be trusted to always be appropriately light and cheerful in company. "Your son is a true gem," she said when he approached her. "You must be proud."

"I am," Alduin answered freely. Wynn, in spite of all the complications he brought with him, was also the one thing keeping him afloat right now.

"How did Harry like his new cousin?"

Alduin didn't particularly wish to talk about Harry, but he said: "Oh, he was immediately enamoured. Of course when he was at home, he couldn't really do much apart from holding him for a short moment very carefully, but I think that during the summer, they'll spend a lot of time together."

Mrs. Muhammad laughed. "I don't want to ruin your illusions about the genius of your child, Alduin, but Wynn still won't be capable of much more than being held in the summer."

Alduin smiled. "I know. Still, when he's bigger he at least won't feel quite so fragile to Harry." Or to me, he added mentally.

The Burkes arrived, then, with a plethora of gifts for their new relative's naming day, and Alduin was obliged to make them feel welcome. Ollivanders came not too long later, and then it was just a moment of waiting for the Yaxleys and the Selwyns before the ceremony took place.

Alduin didn't remember much of it, to be truthful, and wasn't very capable of judging how smoothly it went. He didn't drop Wynn in its course and didn't forget the words he was supposed to say, so he was inclined to count it as a success.

They all drifted out to the garden for the food afterwards, awaiting the arrival of the other guests. The parties really were much smaller during the school year, Alduin mused as he watched them trickle in. Thank gods.

Kinglsey came to him and greeted him with a nod. "All recovered?" He asked.

"It wasn't me, primarily, who needed recovery," Alduin replied with a forced smile, lying through his teeth. Alexandra had certainly recovered from the birth much more easily than he had from the news he'd received.

"I don't know. You wouldn't be the first father I know who took the birth worse than the mother. Just ask Nathan, about when Maurice was born. He was out of his mind."

"Then I'm glad I hadn't asked him before, it would have just stressed me out!"

"Ha! True enough, I suppose." He nodded in goodbye and passed further into the garden, and next, Titus Davies was standing by him, congratulating him on Wynn. "And how's Harry doing with the exams preparation?" He asked then.

"Well, I hope," Alduin replied, mentally sighing that the conversation turned to his ward again. That was one door he did his best to keep as firmly shut as possible, at least during the day. During the night, with a bottle of firewhiskey by his side, was another matter. He could not escape the thoughts forever, and the night was the time they caught up with him. The drink helped, though.

"It's of course difficult to oversee him at a distance," he said to Mr. Titus, "but I do my best, and at any rate I can tell he is studying now, which is reassuring." He paused. "Do you agree with Mrs. Leartes that he has a natural knack for Defense?"

"Oh, absolutely! I don't think I have someone who equals him in natural talent in all my classes." He shrugged. "Hermione Granger still gets the best marks, of course – from what I gather, she does so in every subject – but she cannot touch Harry in practical application."

Alduin thought about the name. It rang a bell. "Hermione Granger? The Muggle-Born Ravenclaw?"

"The very one. Do you know her?"

"Harry told me about her. He met her on the train in September, and from what I can gather, there's a sort of distant friendship between them."

"That girl is truly extraordinary. Horatio took her under his wing, and I think it shows political acumen to outdo even his father, to be honest."

Alduin privately snorted. Given that Perseus Yaxley became a Death Eater in the end, it wasn't that hard to have more political savvy than he did, to Alduin's mind. But then again, there was always the mystery of Lucius Malfoy. Outwardly, he smiled and asked: "Is Roger friends with her as well?"

"Well, yes – I mean, with him being so close to Horatio, how could he not be? I think they formed a very nice sort of support group for her, yes..."

That gave occasion to another private smirk of Alduin's. Apparently, Roger hadn't shown quite as much political acumen as his friend, and his grandfather was slightly irritated.

Mr. Titus left, and Alduin found himself standing alone for a moment. That, he knew, was dangerous. When he was alone, when he had a moment of calm, his thoughts inevitably strayed into one territory, and it was a territory he could not afford to as much as touch in the middle of a crowded garden party. He looked around, a little panicked, and made a beeline for the Yaxleys standing not too far away from him. Small talk, he thought desperately. Small talk was the perfect distraction.

-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-

If Harry thought that the school was in a studying frenzy a month ago, he now realized it had nothing on what the situation looked like only a few days before the exams. Even the Gryffindor common room was quiet most of each day, and only erupted in bouts of frenzied activity so late in the evening that no one felt up to any more studying. The time when this happened was moving to later and later as the exams approached.

It was in the state of such transition right now. Most first years have already given up, but Harry and Neville were still at it – whether motivated by knowing of their guardians' expectation or their own conscientiousness, not even they themselves knew – trying to understand some complicated Transfiguration principles. "I think I've got it," Harry said, "it's that you need to think about the borders of the object-no, wait, that doesn't make sense, because some other transfigurations actually change things within it..." He sighed. "I give up. We need help."

He fished one of is two-way mirrors out of his pocket, and called Draco. "Harry?" The blond said from the other end, surprised. "What makes you call so late?"

"I haven't woken you, have I?"

"Are you kidding? Of course not, it's not even ten yet, but still..."

"We're trying to figure out some Transfiguration business and failing miserably. Can you give us a hand?"

Draco snorted. "Do I look like a master of Transfiguration to you?" He asked. "You have a Potions problem, I'm your man. Charms? Right with you. But no Transfiguration." He sneered a little. "Call Granger, I'm sure she's great at it."

"Yeah, probably, but one problem: I don't have a mirror paired with hers." Harry paused. "Is Theo there?"

"Yeah..."

"Can you pass him the mirror, then? I'm sure he can figure it out."

"I don't know, transfiguration isn't exactly his forte either, but fine, I'll pass the mirror."

Theo appeared, looking as surprised as Draco had been. "Yes?"

"Listen, Theo, have you figured out the theoretical part of the basic Transfiguration principles?"

Theo stared at him. "Um, yes, of course," he said then. "I mean, we did that back in October or something. Don't tell me you still don't get it?"

"...I don't?" Harry replied, trying not to feel like an idiot.

"How do you Transfigure stuff, then?" Theo asked, apparently confused.

"I just do. You know, when it feels right, it changes."

Theo shook his head. "You can't transfigure without understanding the principles."

"Well, clearly, I can," Harry replied a little irritably.

"No, that's what I'm telling you – if you're managing successfully, it means you understand what to do on some level, you just don't know how to verbalize it." Theo paused. "Think really carefully what you do when you transfigure stuff, okay? If you think about the steps, I'm sure you'll realize what the principles are actually saying."

"Theo," Harry said, his frustration mounting, "I have no clue what I do. I just thing about what I want that stuff to turn into, and if I'm lucky, it does."

Theodore groaned. "Okay," he said, "I'm calling in Daphne."

So the mirror was passed once again, and Daphne grinned at him. "So, Transfiguration issues?"

"Yeah..."

"It's one of my best subjects, so spill."

Harry described his problem, and Theo's theory. "Theo is totally right," Daphne agreed, "but I'm not sure I can explain the problem via a mirror-call. Do you have time tomorrow afternoon?"

"I guess..."

"Right. Meet me at Great Hall door after last class, I'll do my best to explain."

"Thanks!"

"No problem. Good night, Harry!"

"Good night."

Harry put the mirror away, and turned to Neville. "So, I got us some assistance!"

Daphne ended up tutoring most of Gryffindor's first year, and while she successfully explained the problem they had, thanks to Parvati's questions, they ran into some stuff that not even she could figure out. "You'll have to ask someone older, I guess," she said.

"Or Hermione," Harry pointed out.

"I suppose," she agreed with obvious reluctance.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Daphne, you too?"

"Oh, give me a break, Harry. I don't hate her, but she is super irritating. You don't have classes with her, do you? So it's easy to judge. I mean, she knows the answer to every single question the teachers ask, and never forgets to let us know. It's hard not to resent that at least a little."

"I'd expect that'd be a common problem with Ravenclaw," Harry replied. It was true he never had any classes with them, but that's how he always imagined them: a forest of hands constantly in the air. As far as he was concerned, it would be a good thing. At least it would lower the chance of a teacher calling on him unexpectedly.

"Well, yeah," Daphne said slowly, "it's true that one of them always raises their hand, but it's someone else every time. Granger always does, every single time, and seems about to burst out of her chair while doing so. Even her housemates make fun of her for that, even though I guess it's a bit more kindhearted."

"Yeah, okay, but that's still no reason to protest asking her about something she understands..."

"I didn't protest. But do you actually know she understands it? I mean, we know she's a swot at Herbology, but..."

"Horatio says she's basically super-smart in everything."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Of course he does."

"I'm actually surprised he didn't explain to her that she shouldn't do this kind of stuff," Harry mused. "I mean, I thought that was what he was teaching her, how to behave in the wizarding world."

"Maybe he thinks it's fine?" But before Harry could say anything, Daphne shook her head. "No, he wouldn't." She thought for a moment. "It's a bit better now than it was in September, I guess," she said then. "So maybe he is teaching her something? I'll try to watch her more carefully, you made me interested now..."

Harry was curious now, too, though about something else, and after dinner, he made his way to the Ravenclaw table, looking for the know-it-all in question.

"Hermione," he said, catching her as she was leaving with her friends, "how well would you say you understand the principles of Transfiguration?"

"Pretty well, it's my favourite subject. Why do you ask, Harry?"

"Well, Daphne was tutoring us in it in before dinner and Parvati had some questions she couldn't answer..."

"Really? What did she ask?" Parvati's sister questioned curiously.

"Uh, I'm not sure I could properly represent it...but do you think you could come over and answer it?"

The entire group of Ravenclaw girls ended up coming over to the Gryffindor table, and the discussion was soon way over Harry's head. He wondered whether Parvati had been sorted into the wrong house.