Chapter Thirty

Thinking of Others

Now that they had come to an understanding, Charles had few qualms with Leu deciding to hang with them on the Hogsmeade trip. Leu, Charles, Amy, and Amber hopped off the bus, looking around only once before walking to Honeydukes. Viorica and Apollo, who usually went to Pitch Plus, ran ahead to Honeydukes instead. Before Leu and the others even arrived, Viorica had a bag of licorice cauldrons and was in line as Apollo looked around for some treats for later.

"I'd better get my tribute as well," Leu decided. When he walked over to the bin filled with the licorice, he noticed that eight boxes had been made up and set in a pyramid shape and plucked one off the top.

"I know this has become a family ritual thing, but isn't there some way you can buy some other kind of candy?" Charles complained. "I hate licorice, yet every time he offers candy, that's all he has."

"So get something else," Amber said.

"I'm not sure we should get him anything. He only expects his kids to do it right now. If grandkids start doing it, no one would be able to see his desk for the rest of the year," Charles pointed out.

"I don't care. I'm getting him one anyway," Viorica said. "The last time Hadrian and I had lunch with him, he seemed rather down."

"He's all right. He just misses having Mum around, that's all," Leu replied. Charles looked thoughtful.

"What sort of candy does Grandmother like?" Charles asked.

"Butter tablets and Chocolate frogs," Leu suggested.

"Baklava," Amber said.

"That's not a candy, you goof," Charles told his sister, picking up butter tablets and a couple of Chocolate frogs.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, giving him her favorite candy like that. It may make him miss her more," Amy said.

"Well, maybe it'll bring back a memory or something. It's better than buying him any more licorice," Charles said.

"What he really needs is a bigger candy dish," Leu said.

"So maybe you should give him something other than candy this year,"Amber suggested. Leu looked at the box in his hand. Viorica did the same. Suddenly they put away their candy selections and walked out of the shop, ignoring the stares they got for doing so.

"There can only be one place to go, you know," Leu said.

"Do you suppose it's open?" Viorica asked.

"I'm sure Ambrose knows which weekend is Hogsmeade weekend. Let's go check," Leu said.

Andrew and Laura had been walking towards Honeydukes as they came out, very baffled when Leu and the others came out without any bags at all.

"What in the world? Did you lose all your money? Go on a diet?" Andrew guessed. "Protesting the poor treatment of candy laborers? Or what?"

"We've decided not to get licorice this year," Leu declared, and they marched towards Toby's Trinkets. Andrew stood and watched them for a moment.

"I guess he won't miss a few bags of candy, will he?" Laura grinned at Andrew knowingly.

"Yeah. You know what? I think I'm not going to get him any either," Andrew said.

"Shall we join the march, then?" Laura grinned.

"I think I'll make a couple of stops first," Andrew decided, and the two of them walked over to Alicia Pyther's studio.

When Leu arrived at the shop, it had a sign that read, "Open to everyone but Severus Snape."

"It could be me, but I think we're expected," Charles said.

"But how would Ambrose know why we're here when his father isn't home?" Amber wondered.

"I've given up trying to figure out how anything works in this shop. Let's just go in," Viorica suggested.

Ambrose Tinker glanced up with a smile as they began to file into the room, and he greeted them as they came in and began wandering through the shop. Everyone was gazing at all of the items in amazement, but it was Apollo who was first to voice what everyone was thinking.

"This shop is really weird!" Apollo exclaimed.

The entire left wall of the shop was filled with books. The rack on the left had scrolls and maps, and a great many of them which looked dusty and ancient. To the right of the door, one whole section of shelves seemed to be dedicated to food parcels; boxes of cauldron licorice, just like at Honeydukes, along with boxes of springerle cookies and plastic-wrapped cheese danishes, and on the top shelf out of their reach were a few bottles of a dark-bottled wine. Just beyond those was a shelf filled with a strange collection of mystery books and memorabilia, as well as a violin case and several packages of strings. Even the brochure rack currently displayed a selection of violin music. But the presents on the shelves in the center of the room were a mystery; all of the boxes were already wrapped with different colored papers, each with a tag that dangled by a string.

"Look at that! It's like this whole shop is completely tailored to things that Professor Snape might want for his birthday! Have you ever seen anything like it?" Amy asked in amazement.

"I haven't seen anything like it either," Ambrose admitted with a grin. "And I work here!"

It was then that Andrew, Alicia, and Laura stepped into the shop. The three of them stood there gawking as well.

"Look at all of those books and scrolls! What is going on?" Laura asked in amazement.

"I think that's obvious," Andrew said, showing them the box of springerle. "These are all potential presents for Dad."

"How long do you think it's going to be set up like this?" Alicia wondered.

"Well, it's just a guess, but considering it's a school trip, I doubt it'll be like this all day," Ambrose replied. "After all, I'm sure a lot of students will want to come in here for something that they need personally and aren't wanting to buy a gift for Uncle Severus."

"You have a point," Andrew said. "Alicia?"

"Going," Alicia said immediately.

"And have Pyther bring Quintin," Andrew advised. Alicia nodded and dove out the door.

"Do you suppose he'd mind if I got him something?" Laura wondered.

"Not if you keep it simple," Andrew replied.

"Any suggestions?" Laura asked. Andrew glanced at the box of springerle biscuits and handed it to her.

"Trust me, he'll definitely appreciate it," Andrew said when Laura stared at it curiously.

"Okay," Laura said. "When's his birthday, anyway?"

"November first. I gather we're getting this now because it's the last Hogsmeade trip before then," Andrew replied, and Laura nodded at that.

"Oh, look at this," Viorica said, after picking up one of the prewrapped boxes in the middle. "There's something written on the back of the tag. 'A Memory of a Time at Sea.'"

"I want that one," Leu immediately said, then picked it up. It was rather light. But as he went up to pay for it, he frowned. "Wait. How can I put a price on something when I don't even know what's in it?"

"Pay what you normally pay for one of his birthday presents," Ambrose suggested.

"Typically we just get him a box of licorice cauldrons, and that's only a few sickles," Leu said, glancing at the box. "I'm fairly sure this is more special than that, but Father also wouldn't want us to spend a lot on it. I think I'll put in a galleon."

"I can't afford a galleon," Viorica commented with a frown. "But I can probably afford a box of cauldrons."

"Then get him something you think is worth that," Ambrose said with a shrug. "But if you see a mystery box with a message you like, don't rule it out."

Andrew pondered the boxes a moment, but then looked around thoughtfully.

"What are you going to get?" Laura asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think I'd rather know what it is I'm getting him," Andrew decided and began looking over at the wall of books. "Feel free to go ahead to the Three Broomsticks if you don't want to wait, Laura."

"I don't mind," Laura said. She put her money in the jar and Ambrose wrapped the tin in paper. "Can I grab a stool, Ambrose?"

"Sure... and you're welcome to have some tea, apparently," Ambrose said with a chuckle as a tea set appeared right after Laura pulled a stool over to the end of the counter.

"That happened the last time I sat here too," Laura said with a grin.

"I think I'm going to get him this box of pastries," Charles decided, pulling the individually wrapped cheese danishes off the shelf.

"Won't they be bad by the time his birthday comes around?" Amber asked curiously.

"Not according to the expiration date. It looks like they're good until December," Charles shrugged.

"That's some magic," Amber decided, picking up a box of tea bags to go with it. "I hope orange whatever that is goes with cheese danishes."

"If it's orange pekoe, Father will definitely think they go together," Andrew replied, still reading book titles. Amber nodded at that and put some sickles in.

"There are some paperback mysteries over here. Do you suppose he has any of them?" Viorica wondered, where she stood by the collectibles.

"I doubt they'd be there if he did," Andrew said.

"How about some violin music?" Apollo suggested to Viorica.

"I know which one of those I would get," Laura said.

"Hey, you already got yours. Don't interfere," Andrew chuckled at her.

"No, I want to know. Which one?" Viorica asked, and Laura got up and went over to the music stand, handing her the Sleeping Beauty Waltz. "Thanks!"

"No problem," Laura grinned. Andrew stepped over curiously as Viorica went to pay for it. He rolled his eyes at it, then went back to the bookshelf.

"Don't bother paying too much for that, Viorica... the rest of the family will be paying for it from the moment he gets his hands on it," Andrew said so dryly, that Laura couldn't help but chuckle.

"Let's go to the sports shop next, Viorica," Apollo said, trying not to sound impatient.

"Can you wrap it for me, Ambrose?" Viorica asked.

"Sure thing," Ambrose said as she put in her coins, and the two of them stepped out, holding the door as Corey and Alex came in. They gawked just inside the doorway until Aurelius and Alicia insisted they move further in, followed by Pyther, holding Quintin by the hand.

"We're shopping for Dad!" Quintin announced.

"Good, because right now, that's all that's in here," Ambrose chuckled.

"Hey, what are you two giving him?" Corey asked as Charles and Amber were getting ready to leave.

"A box of cheese pastries," Charles said.

"And a box of tea," Amber added.

"Wait, what did Viorica just buy?" Aurelius wanted to know.

"Sheet music for the Sleeping Beauty Waltz," Andrew replied. Alex, Aurelius, Corey, and Alicia all groaned loudly. "It was Laura's idea, not mine," he added quickly when they started staring at him accusingly.

"Gee, thanks, Laura," Alicia said sarcastically.

"I knew he'd want it," Laura said with a shrug and a smile. Quintin ran over to the counter with the sweets, peering at what was there.

"What would you like to get for your Dad's birthday, Quintin?" Pyther asked him, and Quintin immediately grabbed the box of licorice cauldrons. "It seems we have a traditionalist," Pyther informed them with a chuckle.

"What about the ones in the center?" Corey asked.

"Mystery gifts, but they all have hints written on the back," Andrew told them distractedly, pulling out a book that had a black dust cover on it that gave no clue to what the book was about. He opened it up then shut it again. "And this is the one I was looking for. Of course," he said with amusement, taking it up to the counter.

"I'm all for giving him a mystery present, if someone else will read the tags for me," Corey said.

"Sure," Alicia said, picking up a black box and reading the tag. "This one says, 'A memoir of finding your way into the light.'"

"Oh, wait, that one is mine," Pyther immediately said, and Alicia handed it over with a smile.

"I could have given him that one too," Aurelius conjectured.

"Maybe, but it does sound as if they're geared to certain people, don't they?" Alicia agreed, holding up another one. "Yes, I'm sure they are, because this one reads, 'a happy memory when we were both children.'"

"Aunt Anna," Aurelius said. "Who else could it be?"

"I think she came today," Andrew ventured. "She did say something about meeting up with Hadrian and Uncle Augustus for lunch, at least."

"I'll see if I can track them down," Pyther offered.

"Anyone else we need to track down?" Laura wondered as Andrew had his book wrapped and paid for it.

"Maurice would probably want to know about it," Ambrose suggested.

"Alright. Laura, why don't you go to the Three Brooms to set up the staff table and I'll be right over after I take care of that," Andrew replied.

"No problem," Laura agreed.

"'A confession from the rascal next door,'" Alicia read.

"Okay, that one's mine. Ambrose, is it okay if I peek to see what I'm confessing about first?" Corey asked.

"I suppose, if it's not sealed," Ambrose replied.

"It's not. It's in a sweets box of all things. In fact, from the smell, I think it has cauldrons in it too," Alicia said, handing it to Corey.

Corey opened the box and read the note inside with a smile, rolling it back up again and putting it inside.

"Yes, alright, he can know about that secret now," Corey decided, getting out some sickles to buy it.

"Anything I should know about?" Aurelius asked.

"No, it wasn't one of the secrets I gave you, actually. It was a secret between Albus Dumbledore and myself," Corey explained. "Wrap it, please?"

"Sure thing," Ambrose said with a grin, wondering if he wasn't going to get hand cramps by the end of the day.

Well outside of the city limits, next to a large apple orchard and pumpkin patch, a gravel lane led up to a small collection of wizard-owned houses and cottages, each one sporting a small garden patch and herb garden of its own.

As Lavender and Jennifer Apparated in front of Lavender's mother's house, Jennifer gazed at the limestone cottage and let out a long sigh of appreciation.

"This reminds me of the cottage we had when Severus and I first got married," Jennifer said, admiring the lovely hedges and bushes in the front yard.

"Did it come with all the extra pairs of eyes too?" Lavender asked with amusement.

"Extra pairs of eyes?" Jennifer inquired, then looked down and suddenly saw movement under one of the bushes. "Oh!" she exclaimed as a baby black rabbit dashed out of the bush and ran back to the wooden fence leading into the back garden, scrambling under it. Two steps later, several other rabbits, mostly brown and white, scurried under the gate to the back garden too. "Just how many rabbits does your mother have now?"

"Don't ask me! I lost count," Lav admitted with a grin.

"It's your own fault, you know."

Lav and Jennifer looked up to see that Rosemary had walked over to the back garden gate, unlocking it for them as she smiled at Jennifer knowingly.

"Oh, no. You can't blame that on me!" Jennifer laughed. "White was a buck!"

"Well, yes, but when you left, he was so lonely that I adopted a girlfriend for him... you see the results, albeit a few generations removed," Rosemary said. "It's all right; I sell them to familiar shops now and get a decent income off of them to supplement my retirement," she explained, opening the gate for them and getting a hug for good measure. "So good to see you, Jen-girl!"

"I heard you stuck up for me at the school board meeting. Thank you," Jennifer said warmly.

"Happy to do it! I knew you'd be able to shake things up around the school, and boy did it need it," Rosemary said with amusement. "And from what a little bird told me, you're doing a pretty good job of it, too."

"I guess we'll see by just how much once the first of those silly assessment tests have to be done," Jennifer said with a grin.

"I don't care if they bomb them. I am not going back to that Potion schedule," Lavender said firmly. "And I'm not the only one who feels that way. In fact, more and more teachers are jumping ship all the time."

"Really? You haven't introduced me to anyone new lately... except maybe Kevin, but he introduced himself," Jennifer pointed out.

"Jennifer, you know how things get around in that school when something interesting is going on. I'd say it's well out of your hands now," Rosemary said with amusement, Lav nodding to her in agreement.

"Everybody who's gone rogue has told everyone else in their departments, most of which decided it's a good idea," Lavender agreed. "A few of those related to Masons refused to get involved, but they also promised to keep quiet about it."

"That's good, that means they respect what you guys are doing, even if they don't want to get caught in it," Rosemary said, leading them to an outdoor seating area under an umbrella with a lovely herbal print on it. Nearby was a stainless steel outdoor grilling area with white coals burning and a campsite coffee pot percolating next to shrimp and vegetable kabobs and a dutch oven with some campfire bread inside.
"I hope you don't mind alfresco. I like to stay outside as much as I can these days... I blame too many years at Whitebridge for the preference," she added as she poured them each a cup.

"I understand wanting to be outside today, it's lovely out here this afternoon," Jennifer said appreciatively. "And the wooden fence helps keep the wind at bay, doesn't it?"

"And nosy neighbors too," Lavender added.

"Well, I don't get much of that these days. Most of us living in this neighborhood are here to get away from all of that. The nosy bunch tend to get bored and go back to the city," Rosemary chuckled. She set some plates out for them, as well as a platter of vegetables and shrimp that they could get what they liked, setting the bread on the table along with some fresh cream.

"So! Now that we're settled, you did say in your note that you wanted to ask me about something, Jen-girl," Rosemary said.

"Yes, actually. You see, one of my goals this year while I'm Whitebridge is to try and make some progress on a research project of mine, and I'm looking for another assistant..."

"Sold! I'm in," Rosemary replied, grabbing some bread. Jennifer laughed at her.

"You haven't even heard what it's about yet," Jennifer protested. "Unless Lavender told you."

"No, but she didn't have to. To be honest, I've been keep tabs on you since you left school, really," Rosemary admitted.

"Keeping tabs?" Jennifer repeated.

"Wait here a moment," Rosemary said. She went inside, a pair of curious bunnies scampering out of her way when she got up. Lav gave Jennifer a piece of the bread, and Jennifer nibbled on it for a minute until Rosemary came back out again with a large scrapbook. "Here we are," she said, and Jennifer quickly wiped off her hands and took it from her.

Jennifer opened it, then groaned loudly when she saw that the first newspaper clipping was the Daily Prophet's article on her part in the Azkaban Revolt. She began to flip through it, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Hey, how come her scrap book seems to have more pages than mine?" Lavender laughed in protest.

"Because you haven't done as much yet, dearie," Rosemary said, wagging her finger at Lavender. "Don't worry, I only put in the positive ones."

"I can't believe you have all of this," Jennifer admitted.

"Tell me, Jennifer, have you ever mentored a student? I mean really mentored, like Wind and I did with you?" Rosemary inquired.

"Does family count?" Jennifer asked.

"No, that's a very different sort of relationship," Rosemary said. Jennifer thought about it.

"I suppose I started to with Viorica, until she got adopted by one of my sons, that is," Jennifer said sheepishly, and Rosemary shook her head at her. "Well then, I suppose I'll have to leave Corey out of the conversation as well, since we ended up adopting him," Jennifer said. "So I suppose the first one I've ever truly had that wasn't a part of the family is Truman Ford. He's one of my Whitebridge students this year."

"Really? After teaching all of these years, only the one?" Rosemary asked in surprise.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, being the head of Ravenclaw House, I give out more than my fair share of advice to all of the students under me. But I've always tried to be as impartial as I can to all of my students," Jennifer explained. "Even when some of them became friends as well as students."

"I see. Then why did you make an exception for Truman?" Rosemary asked.

"Well, because he was a Truth Seeker, he needed special training," Jennifer explained. "He needed help, and I jumped in because nobody else really could help." Rosemary smiled thinly at that. "I did have his parents and Wind's permission first." Rosemary waved that part off.

"Never mind that part. The point is that you jumped in because you felt that he needed help and you were the one who was in the best position to help him. Is that not so?" Rosemary said.

"Yes," Jennifer agreed.

"Did you do it to benefit yourself in any way? Or did you simply do it because you wanted to see him succeed?" Rosemary asked.

"The second, obviously," Jennifer said.

"So I assume you plan to train him the entire time you're at Whitebridge. What about after you leave?" she asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I've already arranged a fairly good support network for him to take over," Jennifer assured her.

"Good to know, but I doubt they'll report back to you after the fact," Rosemary pointed out.

"No, I don't suppose they will," Jennifer replied.

"Then how will you know if he succeeds or not?" Rosemary asked. Jennifer thought about it.

"I suppose I won't," Jennifer admitted.

"Yes, well, I'm not quite so content to leave good enough alone when it comes to students I mentor," Rosemary said, tapping the book. "I invested seven years of my life into your future. I think it'd drive me crazy not knowing if you actually made it or not. And I guarantee you, Jennifer, even if you aren't thinking about it now, it won't be long after you leave Whitebridge and head home that you won't start wondering about how Truman is doing, and if he's managed to overcome his obstacles in life. It's almost like having another kid... except it's one that never sends an Owl Post, unless you count a Christmas card every few years." Jennifer blushed at that. "And if that's the case, you have to be a bit nosy and sub to the local papers, digests and the like... or buy a hella lotta frog cards," she added for good measure. She flipped to the back two pages of the book. They were filled with all of Jennifer's cards, causing her to laugh.

"Don't tell me how many you went through, I don't want to know," Jennifer said with a grin.

"Nah, I bought a lot of them on the Wizardnet," Rosemary admitted with a chuckle. "So are you going to tell me what we're working on, or what?"