Chapter Sixteen

The cottage was huge. Like a huge mansion. Like a majorly overly sized kind of huge mansion. Azalea stared up at it in complete awe. This was hers. This was all hers. It was nine A.M. when they left, so it was exactly an hour later in the day here with the slight time zone difference. It would take a little adjusting, but there was little to no jet lag. It was a perfect situation.

The building itself was three stories tall with large bay windows and the exterior was covered in beige stucco and coralstone. There was a marble tiled front porch, led up to with a sandstone walkway on either side of a Caribbean blue lagoon. The front wall of the mansion was a wall of glass windows with black exterior trim. The entirety of the house was on the waterfront, the walkway leading directly to a fine white sanded beach. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The landscape was well manicured, not overgrown. There were palm trees, something Azalea had never seen before. There were tropical fruit trees and low-lying shrubs as well, spotted around the property. All three children gazed in wonder at the amazing place before them. The adults were not far behind. Cassiopeia had only heard of the Cottage, never before had she actually seen what it looks like, not even in photos on paper. Azalea took the initiative and entered the home. When she put her hand on the gilded door knob, the wards flared to life, and blanketed everyone around her. They were protected now, she was at home. She was safe here in the mansion, away from the prying eye of the wizarding world. Only a few people knew where they were going, let alone that this place even existed.

The first room they entered could only be called a Great Room. It looked to be well over four thousand feet, maybe even five thousand total. It was a three-story room, with three floors in total that she could see. The roof of the Great Room was a massive sky lit window. There were six Chandeliers, two grand staircases, indoor tropical trees and native flowers, huge plush sofas, beautiful stone walls, polished and honed Jerusalem Gold floors, enormous windows and drapes all decorated with antiques from all around the world. It was over the top extravagant and this was only the first room of the Rosier Cottage. In the center to the left of the room, was a beautiful rosewood antique grand piano, just begging to be played. Although, if you wanted to, it was also enchanted to play itself at the mere wave of the wand. When the wards flared to life around her, the piano quite literally started playing soft melodic tunes as a welcome gesture. The high ceilings only helped amplify the soft music, spreading it out throughout the room like a soft blanket of a lullaby.

"Oh wow… It's beautiful." Neville said in complete wonder."

"I thought you said this was a cottage?" Azalea asked her aunt.

"It is. At least, on paper it is. The Rosier family is... very wealthy to put it mildly. They were known for their extravagance."

"They must have been, if this was a cottage. It's so pretty..."Azalea trailed off, staring in wonder at the surroundings before her.

Slowly but surely the group spread out and explored the house. All in all, there were eight bedrooms, including two full master suits, three bedrooms stocked with toys and what else was expected to be in a children's bedroom, three suits for visiting guests. Each bedroom has its own full ensuite bathroom, and there were powder rooms on every floor, as well as showers near the lagoon and pool, and in the spa for the sauna. There was a cellar half dedicated to wine and firewhisky and other spirits, but there was also a smaller version of a potions laboratory, but it wasn't stocked to full capacity as she had not notified the elves to do so. The master bedrooms both had massive onyx stone tubs, hand carved of course. The spa was stunning. There were magically enchanted massage chairs and a steam shower.

There was a coal heated sauna and there was oddly enough a cocktail bar. There were matching his and her studies, too. The His study was decked out in mahogany paneled walls with a solid alabaster chandelier, and Chinese rosewood furniture including a solid rosewood desk with a built-in expanding filing cabinet. There were large bay windows, with elegant drapery and sun blocking curtains if desired. It had a deep royal blue thick piled carpet too. The Hers study was much the same. The furniture was made out of Chinese rosewood, but there was also a hobby table and easy chairs made of the matching wood. The carpet was an elegant soft floral pattern and the drapery matched quite the same. There were high ceilings with alabaster chandeliers too, and it was stunning to look at. Not that Azalea needed a study per se, but she decided if she ever did stay here long term she would claim this one as her own.

Halfway through the day, even though Azalea was not satisfied with exploring the mansion yet, they stopped to eat lunch for the day. They all met down in the dining hall, an overtly extravagant room with a large tropical looking wooden long table in the center of the room. There were two of the same alabaster chandeliers hanging from the tall ceilings.

"Auntie Cia, what are we having for lunch?"

"The menu for while we are here will be a lot different. While in Scotland we eat a lot of rich hearty foods and breads, here there is an over-abundance of fresh tropical fruits and seafoods, and lots and lots of potatoes. Typically, you'll see dishes like empanadas, polbo a feira, which is an octopus soup, and other foods like Lacón con grelos, a pork and potato dish that I hear is absolutely delicious. Of course, the elves have also stocked up on some of your favorites from back home too. I know you can't live without your fresh blueberries and apples." Cassiopeia said as they all took their seats.

"Seafood? Octopus? I've never had octopus, what does it taste like?"

"Well here, why don't you try it? I think there's some in that pot over there. I'll put some in a dish for you to try, but don't worry too much if you don't like it." Arcturus chimed in.

But she did like it. She even went back for a second helping. Everyone spent the rest of the time eating and relaxing and talking about this and that. The topic of schooling came up and Augusta asked the three children how their courses were going.

"Neville, Theo, Azalea… How is your schooling going? What are you learning about right now?"

"Well in our language lessons we're learning Gaelic from Lady Cassiopeia right now?"

"Really? Can you introduce yourselves yet?" Augusta asked, honestly curious.

The three children looked between each other and shrugged.

"Sure, I don't see why not? Ready guys?"

"Halo, Is e m 'ainm Azalea. Dè an t-ainm a th 'ort?" Azalea turned to Theo and asaked.

He looked to her and replied, "Halò. Is e m 'ainm Theo. Agus cò thusa?" He said the last part to Neville. Neville looked nervous for a second before he steeled his face and replied looking between the both of them. "Is e m 'ainm Neville. Ciamar a tha an dithis agaibh a 'dèanamh an-diugh? Tha an aimsir gu math snog an seo. A bheil thu a 'còrdadh riut?" All three children looked up at Augusta in questioning for approval.

Translation:

Hello, my name is Azalea. What is your name?

Hello. My name is Theo. And who are you?

My name is Neville. How are you both doing today? The weather is very nice here. Do you like it?

AN: I used Google Translate so if you speak it, and it's wrong please let me know?

"Wow! Very good. You three are very bright!" Augusta applauded the three kids. She had known they were getting fluent quickly, but she didn't realize just how well they were becoming in the Scottish language. Cassiopeia had been working hard with those children indeed.

It was well after lunch that there was indeed a fully furnished basement in addition to the cellar. When Azalea, Neville, and Theo walked down the spiral staircase into the unknown room, all of the chandeliers flickered to life as if they were aware someone was down there into the dark. All at once, the three kids were in shock at the playful wonderland before them. None of them had ever seen so many areas to play in at one spot. The playroom was a four thousand square foot room, massive really. It was full of different shelves of toys to play with, every toy they could ever imagine owning. There were shelves upon shelves of books for them to read, both picture and chapter by the looks of it. It was a multi level structure too, as there was a loft with soft seats and tables to spread out at. Down on the main floor, there were also a bouncy castle, a rather large ball pit to play in, a swing set and slides, and a seesaw. And then there was the pool. There was a lagoon inside the basement with a long winding water slide attached to it that they could play on, as well as a diving board. Azalea loved swimming in the lake back at the manor. They all did. But none of them have ever swam in a pool, and especially not in a lagoon, not as pretty blue-green as that. When the three of them saw that they wanted to stop exploring then and there and just play there forever, not that any of the adults would ever blame them. The basement even had its own miniature quidditch pitch. None of them knew how to fly on a broom yet though so that part was kind of pointless for the moment.

When Azalea, Neville and Theo finally pulled themselves away from the gigantic wonderland of toys and games and came back upstairs, it was nearly time for dinner. They found the adults all lounging in the Great Room with Arcturus playing softly on the piano, and Augusta and Cassiopeia chatting about the decor and design of the Cottage and how beautiful it was. All in all, everyone was enamored with the place that Azalea owned, the place that Cassiopeia had chosen for them to go for the holiday, and it was the perfect place for Azalea and Neville to spend their ninth birthdays. Theo's had passed quietly in December and no one had been none the wiser until two weeks later when Azalea called him to be eight, and he quietly corrected her. After much hurt and upset at Theo for not telling them that his birthday had come and passed, Azalea decided that he would just celebrate his birthday with her and Neville. She knew the other quiet boy wouldn't mind quite at all.

Once the adults spotted the three children coming back into view, the flow of conversation changed, and they eventually made their way out onto the front patio, at one of the many tables, where they had a light and delicious supper. The elves really went above and beyond the necessity of extravagance that they were expected to do so. It was almost as if they were showing off at the fact that they had someone to care for once again.

The days went slow but pleasantly like this, and before you knew it, it was nearing the day they all had to go back home to the Scottish Highlands Manor. It was Azalea and Neville's and now Theo's birthday celebration. They were getting to go to a wizarding beach! Azalea, Neville, and Theo were very excited. They had never been on a tropical holiday, therefore they had never seen a pure white sandy beach as well.

Cassiopeia, Augusta and Arcturus had perfectly planned out the day. They would have breakfast out on the terrace; all of the three kids' favorite foods would be served. Then, they would relax and lounge for a little bit before heading to the private beach on the island. They would spend most of the day at the beach before returning changing in one of the beach stalls, where they had a full set of steam showers and changing rooms to get clean of sand and shells, dry off from the water, and just relax further. Finally, they would be heading to a very expensive Galician restaurant, Silabario A Sede on the mainland of Vigo, Spain. It served all kinds of traditional Spanish and Galician cuisine, something the children had been experiencing and loving so far from the house elves. This was a muggle restaurant, though. They would be dressing into well tailored outfits fit for a muggle after the beach, something none of the three children had ever done, especially not someone like Thorros' son Theo. It would be a day for first and new experiences for all of them, it seems.

"Beach! Beach! Beach! Beach! Beach!" The children chanted in succession. They were very excited it seemed, and who could blame them.

Augusta shook her head and smiled. She had never seen Neville so happy before, especially after losing his parents like he did. Even if it was in the comfort of a Nott. Theo, she decided, was not that bad after all. Thorros on the other hand... Cassiopeia had quietly filled her and Arcturus in on what she planned to do to that man if and when he came looking for his only son. So far it had been almost the whole summer, and he had not gone looking for his child. He was a despicable man, a waste of human and magic. When she found out about the abuse, she chimed in that she would gladly help avenge the child if and when the time came. She was shaken out of her dark musings by little Azalea tugging on her sleeve. Today was technically her birthday, and tomorrow would be Neville's, but they were both sharing today as their day, along with celebrating Theo's late birthday.

"Okay children! Gather around me!" Arcturus instructed the three kids.

"We will be side-along aperating to the gate of the beach. From there, it's a short half mile walk, and we'll be there in a jiffy. Now, Azalea, you will be going with me. Theo, you will be side-along aperating with Cassiopeia, and Neville will be going with his grandmother, Augusta. Everyone has half an hour to get what they want to bring together, and we will meet back here. Go on and go get ready." Arcturus instructed in a firm voice.

Once everyone was ready to go, they all side-along aperated to the beach. The sand was a gorgeous white color, and there were tiny sparkly shells along the coast of the beach from where the water had risen up in high tide the night before. Azalea squealed before running off and dragging the two other boys with her. They played and splashed in the water for almost two hours before Theo got out of the water and laid down on a spread out on a blanket to soak up some of the sun and read a book. Neville got out next, citing that he wanted to get a snack. That left little Azalea alone, before she too got out and started wandering the perimeter of the beach's anti-muggle wards.

It was towards the woods lining the far west facing side of the beach that she spotted a little girl, maybe a year younger than her, crouching down. She was looking for something, and Azalea was curious as to what she was investigating. She was hoping the girl would be able to speak English.

"Hey! Who are you?"

"Oh, were you talking to me?" The dirty blonde haired girl asked suddenly.

"Who else would I be talking to?"

"I thought maybe you might be addressing the nargles. May I help you?" The strange girl said airily.

"I was merely concerned for you. You're brushing against the wards of my Cottage, and they can be slightly dangerous if you aren't careful about it.

"Oh, thank you. Daddy and I were just looking for the Crumple-horned Snorkack. Have you seen any?"

"No, what do they look like?" Azalea asked, quite curious now. She had read many books about magical and muggle creatures and had never ever heard about anything sounding like that name before.

"Oh, Daddy doesn't know. He just thought they might be here on this island. We're on holiday here from England, are you here on holiday too?"

"Yes, we're here holidaying from Scotland. Where is your father?"

"He's probably making his way around to me. I did run off ahead of him again. He's not going to be too happy with me, I don't think. He asked me not to." The girl wistfully replied.

"Oh! My name is Azalea Potter-Black. What's your name? We never did introduce ourselves to each other."

"Luna! There you are. What did I say about running off? You're about to hit the wards- Oh, hello!" A man with white hair and the same silvery blue eyes ran up stopping short when he saw Azalea with presumably his daughter. He seemed worried about her, and understandably she understood why. The Rosier family wards were very fierce in protecting the keeper of the wards, which would be Azalea and her company. These two were strangers to the wards, and Azalea as well.

"You must be Luna! It's nice to meet you. And you-" Azalea said as she turned to the man, "must be Luna's father. It's nice to meet you, I'm Azalea Potter-Black."

"Hmm, Azalea you say. Well, it's nice to meet you. What may I ask, are you doing here?"

"I'm staying at the Cottage right now that is a bit away from here. I saw your daughter was approaching the edge of the wards of my property and I wanted to stop her before she brushed into them because even I don't know what their full powers are."

"Oh we thank you for the warning. That was very kind of you little Azalea. Now, we must be going now. I do not think the crumple horned snorkack is here on this island after all. Come along Miss Lovegood, we have creatures to look for and lands to explore." And with that the two strange people wandered away from Azalea back deep into the brush. Azalea found the whole experience to be very odd, but she shrugged it off. It's not like she could do anything about them being here herself, she was just a little girl. She was only nine. She settled on mentioning it to Arcturus later when she saw him again. For now, she was going to continue to explore the ward's edges, being mindful to keep away from the very edges. The Rosiers were a dark family with dark affiliations and their property wards were no exception.

It was just after the sun had begun to decline that her Auntie Cia had called the three children back to the gathering, where they had set up their towels and beach blanket.

"Come along children. Did you have lots of fun?" Augusta said as she ushered the three children along off of the sandy dunes to where the showers and apparition point were. From there, the six of them got changed into the expensive formal wear that was hand-picked for them by Arcturus and Cassiopeia. It was a very expensive muggle restaurant after all.

Silabario De Sede was a very modern looking restaurant, but that did not take away from the classic Galician cuisine that they served. Apparently this was what the muggles called a Michelin star restaurant, whatever that meant. They sat at a large round wooden table, just big enough to fit the six of them at it. The menu was in all Spanish at first, but before they went into the restaurant, Arcturus had given all three of the children a present. A bracelet that translated things you held in your hand from any foreign language to their language of choice, with the default being English.

The restaurant itself was pretty. There were hundreds of large triangle shaped windows, and they showed the stars above them, as if they were enchanted. As was not the case for it being a muggle restaurant, the six of them were even more impressed at the clarity of the windows. It was rather beautiful, really.

The food really was something else. It was the most delicious food that Azalea, Neville, and Theo had ever had, with the exception of Zilly's cooking.

It was all meat and potatoes and seafood, but the different types were phenomenal. It was out of this world delicious. They started with a bunch of different appetizers, of how they called them, starters. Arcturus, Augusta, and Cassiopeia picked out many delicious foods. There were roasted scallops with crispy pork and mustard greens, as well as Galician beef tartare cured with mushroom carpaccio and there was cod cocochas, a type of fish stew, with a balsamic drizzle on the surface. Also ordered was octopus braised in crab broth, with curly cabbage as well as Salpicón of blue lobster, a lobster sandwich really, with lobster caviar and a coral vinaigrette, a type of dressing made with fresh key limes. Last, for the starters was creamy roasted duck and sea urchin croquettes. It took them a while to eat though the food, even though the portions were a bit smaller than usual, as this was what was called a tasting menu.

The next course was fish. There were three to choose from this time. They were monk fish with celeriac, baby broad beans and a fresh rémoulade, grilled fresh caught tuna in a kombu mojo with charcoal grilled onions and peppers, and finally grilled tuna belly, this time with a caper sauce. It was all so delicious that Azalea, Theo, and Neville had never ever seen food like this before.

The third course was the carne course, or the meat course. Again, this time there were three options to try food from on the table. There was Gallo de Mos, with chilindrón ravioli, which boasted on the menu that it was slow roasted all day long. Second, was a charcoal-grilled beef tenderloin, served with collard greens and yucca, a plant related to asparagus, apparently. Last was Azalea's personal favorite so far, delicately roasted suckling lamb, with morel broth and baba-ganoush, which was a type of dip made of eggplant, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, fresh garlic with salt and pepper.

Finally, at last, it was time for desserts. It was personally Azalea's favorite course of all time. She adored sweets, as did Neville and Theo. There were four options and Azalea tried each and every one of them. There was a Galician cheesecake, which was her absolute favorite of all that she had tried that night. Neville preferred the bica, a sponge cake made with flour, eggs, sugar and cinnamon and butter. Theo preferred the strawberry and coconut layer cake. There was also a dark chocolate mousse cake with golden leafed dried fruits and nuts, but that was really a bit too much for the three nine-year-olds.

After all that feasting, the children were all hyped up on sugar, but the adults kept them in place with a simple gesture while the adults talked and sipped on cups of hot coffee. Eventually it was creeping towards the three kids' bedtime, as it was nearing 9 pm. The adults paid for the feast in the muggle currency, called a euro. It was colorful papery money, a novelty to the children who had never seen something like that before.

Once back at the cottage, all of the children got ready for bed, but before Azalea could drift off to sleep, there was a gentle knock at her bedroom door.

"Come in?" She said out sleepily, rubbing at her eyes. After a long day of swimming and exploring, and eating all of the new foods and sights and smells, she really was rather tired. She wondered who was at her bedroom door.

Her question was answered as the door opened, and her great uncle Arcturus entered the room, gently slipping in and shutting the door softly behind him.

"I was rather hoping you would still be awake, little Azalea."

"What is it Grandpa? Is everything okay?" Azalea asked, still a bit half awake.

"It's nothing wrong. Rather, I have something for you. A gift, for your ninth birthday."

"But I thought we were opening gifts tomorrow after cake, with everyone."

"We are, but I wanted to give this to you, privately." And Arcturus pulled out a beautifully carved black ebony box. It was hand carved with a pattern of ferns and flowers, swirled over the front of the box itself.

"What is it?"

"Open it and find out, sweet child; I've been meaning to give this to you, and today seemed to slip by so fast. This is for you, dear."

Azalea gently took the box from his hand, and opened it. What was inside took her breath away. The ring itself was made of goblin mithril. It had a three-quarter carat round enhanced black solid diamond, with bold black diamond chevrons that flanked out against the main stone. It also had diamonds that graced the open double shank perfectly. On the inside of the band was inscribed Toujours Pur, with multiple runes surrounding the inscription. The ring sung of elegance and radiated power, everything you would expect from the Black family heir ring.

"Grandpa... Uncle... I- Thank you!" Azalea said, with tears in her eyes before immediately launching herself into his arms, where she burrowed her face into his chest.

"This is the Black Heir ring, never take this off, until it is time to pass it onto an heir or heiress of your very own, little Azalea Potter-Black. It brings me great joy to finally be able to pass this along to someone who is truly worthy of it."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Grandpa!" Azalea said, fully awake now. "I'll never take it off, I promise."

"It will protect you, sweet child. It protects your mind from oculemency attacks. You are the granddaughter of my heart, you are a Black and no one can tell me or you otherwise now." Arcturus said as he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

She buried her face back into his chest, "I love you grandpa." with tears soaking up into his linen shirt.

"I will cherish this forever. I will never let it go." She whispered to herself, as Arcturus quietly exited the room, as she drifted off to sleep, staring fondly at her new ring.

The next day was spent lazing around the pool. Two days ago was Neville's birthday and yesterday was Azalea's birthday. He just wanted to read and relax. Today they would be opening presents and having a small party. Azalea on the other hand, was hard at work wrapping up Neville's and Theo's presents from her to them both. Theo would be getting from her a goblin made silver dagger with the potter crest, directly pilfered from her Potter vaults. She was offering him an olive branch of sorts, marking him as an ally of the Potter family. She would offer him refuge when the time came, mark her hell or high waters. And for Neville, he was getting a book on green spells, something he didn't have before. It was handmade and handwritten in her neatest writing, from texts and tombs in the Black Library and from the Black Grimoire. They were rare spells that Neville would love to have but never had an opportunity to study. They would come in handy when Neville had a wand, in the next year or two.

Much the same, Theo was fussing over the gifts he would be giving his two new best friends. He froze at that thought. He had never had a best friend, let alone two best friends at once. Neville Longbottom and Azalea Potter, two light families at that. Oh, his father would be so furious, that's if he even noticed or cared. He took the two small neatly wrapped boxes, one with a light moss green wrapping paper, and one with a light lilac colored wrapping paper. He wanted to make sure everything was impeccable. It had to be. It needed to be up to Nott standards, he had propriety after all. He looked down one last time, checking over the invisible lint, and nodded. It was time to go.

Meanwhile, with the adults, they were preparing their own gifts to Azalea, as well as the other two children, and setting up the room for the small party they would be throwing. It was in one of the rooms off the Great Room, a patio room of sorts with lots of natural sunlight. The room was decorated in a soft light blue, with a beach theme. The decorations matched the room colors impeccably. To match the power blue room, the decorations were baby blue and off-white, with balloons and streamers placed strategically around the corners of the room. The cake was the centerpiece of the room, really. It was the pièce de résistance, you could say. It was on the smaller side, but held tall as a three tier cake. The cake was layered in a soft off-white marshmallow fondant, with hand shaped white chocolate and gilded seashells with stings of edible pearls as an accent. The base layer, the first layer was a lemon chiffon cake with a lemon curd filling. The second tier's flavor was a delicious chocolate chip layer with decadent morsels of Belgium milk chocolate with a chocolate ganache. The smallest tier was a simple but decadent french vanilla cake with a fresh blueberry compote filling. The elves had really outdone themselves with this cake. It was way more than they would ever be able to eat, but that was okay. That's what a preservation charm was for anyway.

When the three children entered the party room as they decided to call it, they were mid-conversation when they stopped in their tracks.

"What are we going to do?" Theo's voice could be heard asking Neville and Azalea.

"I say we-" Azalea trailed off in awe at the room before them, as they fell into a hush. The adults all turned and shouted, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" all together. Azalea blushed while Neville didn't know how to react. Theo though, was completely taken aback. No one, not even his own father had given him a party. And yet these people, not even allies to the Nott family, had given him a first party ever... He was beyond shocked, in the best way possible.

"I- Thank you guys. Thank you so much. I never expected this... Thank you." Theo said close to tears for the first time in his life. For once, the usually stoic unflappable boy was moved beyond words. These people, Arcturus and Cassiopeia and Augusta; truly they cared for him, didn't they. Azalea, ever the little sister, noticed his distress and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"It's okay big brother, it's okay."

The party continued on like nothing ever happened. They played card games, a first for Theo but Neville and Azalea taught him quickly. They also played other games like exploding snaps and Theo and Neville began to teach Azalea wizard's chess, which was simple enough at first but began to become more and more difficult as time went on. Just as Azalea began to become frustrated, Arcturus stepped in and called the three children to the small piles of presents next to the now partially devoured cake.

"Okay you three, now... Each of you may open your gifts now, and exchange gifts if you would like."

"Okay!" The three children agreed and settled down in comfortable plush chairs near each other. Arcturus carefully levitated each child their pile of gifts, and instructed the three of them to open the presents at their leisure.

Azalea handed off her presents nervously. Logically she knew that Neville and Theo would like their gifts, but she was still sensitive to the idea of their imagined rejections. The presents were dispersed between the three of them, and a sea of shredded wrapping paper soon flooded the area.

"Azalea..." Theo was truly speechless.

It was one of her family's artifacts. It was a goblin-made silver dagger.

"It's imbued with wolfsbane. And that's the Potter crest. The goblins said it was encrusted in topaz and rubies and diamonds. I officially want to offer you room into my Potter line, not as an heir, because I can't do that, but I want you to have a mark of alliance with the Potter line. You are my older brother in all but blood at this point and I want people to know that." Azalea stated firmly, slightly out of character for her soft bubbly self.

"I- What can I say but that I accept? Thank you, Azalea, it means the world to me." Theo stammered out.

"H-Here. Gram and I wanted to give this to you as well. It belonged to my Grand pop, Silvanius."

It was a somewhat plain looking silver metal band, as if the silver had been woven together, instead of forged from the fires. On the inside of the ring was a miniature version of the Longbottom family crest in all of its beautiful colors. "I guess we had the same idea, Aza. Theo, Gram and I want to offer you shelter in the chance that you might need it, from the House of Longbottom."

"Thank you, Neville, Lady Augusta. I accept your offer of shelter at this time, and offer allegiance with the House of Nott."

"I accept the offer of alliance."

While everyone was distracted in opening their gifts from everyone, Arcturus took the opportunity to pull Theo aside and give him his gift.

"I want you to have this. Wear it and never take it off, it will portkey you to Black Manor in case of emergency."

"But this is-"

"Yes, it's a ward's cuff. You will be officially a ward of Cassiopeia, and myself as I am the head of the house currently."

"I thank you, Lord Black. I accept your generous offer of becoming a ward of the Blacks." Magic swirled around them as Theo took the cuff out of the plain black box, and slipped it on his left wrist.

Theo also got a book from Cassiopeia, a plain black book with no writing on the cover at all. He looked up at her in question.

"This is a book traditionally given to children in the Black family. It's an introductory book to the specific style of martial arts known and practiced for many generations by the Black family. Seeing as you are now a ward of the Black family, you will be privy to the knowledge and that includes our style of self-defense. Azalea will be getting the same book soon enough."

Theo looked overwhelmed and Azalea pulled him into another hug.

"It's okay big brother. It just means you'll be part of my family forever, for real this time! You will stay, won't you?" Azalea asked with a pout that she knew no one could resist.

"Yes Azalea, I accept. Thank you Auntie Cia for this lovely offer. It's something I cannot refuse, I would be a fool not to." Theo thanked the older woman, and she nodded before drifting back to where the other two adults were observing the kids.

Then it was Azalea's turn to become emotional. Her Auntie Cia had given her a moonstone cuff, made of mithril. It was shiny and swirly with a large smooth moonstone gem wrapped in mithril wiring. On the tail end of the cuff, since it was large enough to wrap completely around her wrist and then some, was another smaller moonstone faceted by more mithril wiring. The cuff was enchanted, to help her memorize everything she wanted to read easier.

Theo got her a charm dagger for her charm bracelet, something she seemed to be collecting charms for, as Neville got her a Longbottom crest to represent their allyship. Azalea attached each new charm to her bracelet and jingled it, loving the sound and feeling of the magic radiating from the new charms. It was absolutely beautiful, really.

And then, it was Neville's turn. Quietly, as to not embarrass or startle the boy, Augusta handed the sweet child a hand carved ornate wooden box. It was claw foot, with a white finish with a raised motif of swirls and ferns and flowers. But what was inside was even more special. Neville was taken aback. It was the heir ring for the Longbottom house. It was a gold ring with a vintage emerald cushion cut, with a blanket of small diamonds surrounding it. It was a simple enough ring but what it stood for was the important part. He was being officially recognized as the heir of the Longbottoms. He was worthy. It brought tears to his eyes.

"Grandmother... I-" He looked up into her eyes with wide hazel green misty orbs. "Are- Are you sure? But Uncle Algie always said... He always said I wasn't worthy."

Oh, inside Augusta was fuming. She was going to have words with Algie when they got back.

"No, dear sweet child, you were always more than enough. You are the true heir. He will never get a say otherwise." After saying that, she was tackled into a hug from the small boy.

After the emotionally touching moment had passed, the boy went back to opening the rest of his presents. Arcturus had gotten him a book on how and where to identify potent magical plants in Scotland and the surrounding areas. Cassiopeia had gotten him a book on entry level healing and magical herbs and plants. Azalea gently passed over her present, a herbology journal that was featuring information on green magics, and Theo got him a set of mithril and sterling silver throwing knives. They would be good for practicing his weaponry with.

The rest of the day went by smoothly. Tomorrow they would be packing up and getting ready to head back to reality, back to home in Scotland. They had two days left on the island. Oh, the things Azalea would be finding out, if only she knew. Big things would be coming, and she had a feeling it was going to be for the better, she just knew it.