Wands and Witches
Brandt woke up before dawn on Sunday morning. He had a small room in Black Manor to call his own, but small for one of the richest families in the British Isles. Next to his king-size bed were three different clocks, each with its own alarm settings. It occasionally irked him that he couldn't have a digital muggle alarm clock, with multiple alarms, due to the amount of ambient magic in the air on such an old property; but he was happy to have magic in its place… even if it did mean three bulky analog clocks next to his bed.
There was also a small desk that he raised and stretched over the bed, which had his schedule and various other papers. He had always been a slow riser, but that didn't mean that he couldn't be awake and active right away. After pushing himself upright, and looking through his schedule, he saw that Opal must have updated his schedule during the night to show that he would finally be able to visit The Monarch tonight to retrieve the photos from their trip. Gemma Farley would be working with Harry, Lyra, and their friends today, and after that, Tonks would be showing up for them to give the children 'The Talk.' He started to run through emotion-suppressing occlumency exercises in preparation for whatever the metamorphmagus had prepared for the event.
"Darby!" he called out, summoning the elf to the room. "Please bring me a large cup of coffee and a half breakfast." The elf looked a bit disappointed, as he liked to cook a lot, "Also, please coordinate with Opal to arrange the payment for Serenity at The Monarch when the bill comes in later this afternoon."
"Yes, Steward," Darby popped away.
Brandt continued to look through his schedule for the next week. He really wanted to go to the Harpies game next Sunday, but he also had to meet with a few different ministers about the upcoming vote on the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts revision bill. Lord Black had tasked him with trying to find a way to get exemptions on a few items for foreign officials and visiting dignitaries. It was very out of character for the man, and it felt like a test, so he would make sure to accomplish it. As he looked through the files on the ministers that he still needed to convince, something occurred to him.
"Randolph!" he called and another elf popped in. This one was wearing a towel in a way that made it look like a kilt. He also had a small backpack on and wore an eye patch over his left eye.
"Good morning Steward, you received mail during the night." The elf took off his pack and literally dove into it, with his feet disappearing into the pack. After a moment, he surfaced and passed a letter to Brandt.
Setting it aside for the moment, he instructed the elf, "Please bring me the standard files on Ministers Oakwood, Armstrong, and Webb,"
The elf opened a zipper pocket on the bag which extended like a filing cabinet and flipped through them until he pulled out three files and levitated them up to Brandt's table.
"Thank you, Randolph, that will be all," Brandt exchanged a nod with the elf and he put his pack back on and vanished.
Taking a sip of his coffee, he opened the first file, scanned it, and closed it, then repeated it with the other two, and smiled. He could kill four birds with one stone. Pulling a piece of parchment from a stack of blanks, he quickly composed a letter but left the name blank.
"Jenny!" he called, and an elf wearing a frilly lace toga popped into the room. "Please duplicate this letter, twice."
The elf performed the magic. It was considered rude to send duplicated or form letters, particularly invitations to Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot. However, it was nearly impossible to detect if it was done by a house elf. Brandt took the letters back and added the names and addresses to the letters.
"Thank you, Jenny," he smiled at the elf. "Please deliver these letters to the Oakwood, Armstrong, and Webb residences."
The pretty little elf bowed and vanished with a pop. She was one of the few elves he had ever met who actually had a full head of hair. Sometimes he wondered why that was, and every time, he just dismissed it as one of those things about magic that wasn't worth spending the mental capacity on. Due to her uniqueness, she was regularly used for passing on messages as she seemed more human than other elves. She also made a delicious brisket.
Returning to the letter that Randolph had delivered, he opened it to find a message from Alastor Moody:
Steward Brandt,
If you ever repeat what is written here, I will deny it to the end of my life.
I apologize for the incursion and attack at Elmswood.
That being said, I am still interested in providing the assistance you requested in your investigation of the people who don't like the children on the condition that I get to see the pictures you promised.
Update me at your convenience… do not wait too long.
-Alastor Moody
As soon as he was done reading the message, it started to fade away. Wanting to keep the record of an apology from Mad-Eye, Brandt quickly brandished his wand and cast a duplication spell on the paper. However, when the duplicate appeared, the only thing written on the paper was:
That's not going to work. Nice try.
Then the duplicate burst into flame, just as the original vanished. Brandt rolled his eyes, then smiled. He raised his wand and cast a pinching jinx at a plaque on the wall of an owl, then pulled out a parchment to draft a return letter to the crazy old Auror.
Alastor Moody,
I will be retrieving the full collection of photos later tonight. Severus Snape has also expressed interest in viewing them and I will probably be visiting him at Hogwarts next week to show him. I will provide you with the names of the people I am investigating at that time.
-Steward Brandt
Just as he finished, an owl swooped into the room through a passage near the ceiling and perched on his bedpost. Before putting the letter in an envelope, he pulled out a runic inscription pen and inscribed a few minor curses on the letter. One to dye the man's hands blue, another to make his hands slippery to keep him from holding a wand, and one more carefully crafted inside the letters of Alastor's name at the beginning, similar to the curse on the eye patch, that would be activated just by reading it… and would turn his magic eye from blue to purple. He didn't believe that the man would fall victim to any of them, but the harmless nature of all of them would make sure he knew that they were just because he still felt irked about the situation. Once the curses were applied, he put it into the envelope and passed it to the waiting owl.
The room he was in did not have any natural light… by design. Brandt preferred to control the light in a room with magic. Looking over at an astronomical clock he had on the dresser near the foot of his bed, he saw that it was just after sunrise outside. Knowing that meant he needed to get up soon, he quickly ate the small breakfast he had been given and pushed the desk to the side to get up.
Today was certain to be interesting.
Due to some last-minute business he had to deal with, Brandt didn't arrive at Hogwarts until after breakfast. He arrived at the dueling arena to find Gemma and the six kids already there and practicing their targeting with the floating orbs. She added an element of difficulty to the lesson by conjuring a small orb of electricity that moved randomly around the platform that would give a small shock if you got too close to it. That way, none of the children could stand in one place very long while casting at the orbs. Brandt just sat in the higher seats and watched. He felt his skin tingle for a moment before Whispers slowly appeared, passing him a mango as he sat down.
"Joooce," Whispers said to him as Brandt accepted the fruit.
Brandt knew Whispers had been getting speech and etiquette lessons from the portrait given by Alessandra Zabini, so Brandt just looked back at the demiguise next to him and said, "What do you need to say?"
Whispers seemed to think for a moment before saying, "Jooce, puh-leeze."
Brandt gave a smile and a laugh as he conjured two small glasses, then cast the spell to squeeze all of the juice out of the fruit until it was just a dry husk remaining. Then he vanished the remains.
Passing the glass to Whispers, he held the cup until he said, "Tank yoo." He must still be having trouble with his 'th' sounds.
Down below, Lyra was getting frustrated, "When can I stop doing this stupid wand movement!" she complained loudly. Then with a whip of her arm, conjured a huge stream of barely controlled fire which enveloped two of the orbs, creating a cacophony of ringing noises before the fire stopped. The others stopped to look at her, and Gemma moved the ball of electricity far above them as it continued to move around.
Gemma addressed all of them, "There is a saying, that you need ten thousand hours of work to become an expert at something. Right now you are beginners, eventually, you'll be amateurs, then slowly work your way up the ladder to being an expert." They were all looking at her trying to figure out how long 10,000 hours was. She answered for them, "Ten thousand hours is a little over four hundred days of continuous work. You're not going to get this overnight, or even in a month. Each spell you work on needs to be done over and over and over. You're training your mind and body to recognize how the spell works. When you get older and know more magic, point casting or nonverbal spells will become easier and quicker to learn after casting them for the first time. But for now, this is what you need to do."
Harry patted his sister on the back, "No shortcuts, remember?"
The rest of their lessons went as usual, and Brandt reminded himself he needed to schedule more time with Stevens to practice his own dueling. Just in case he ran into Malfoy or Crabbe, he was now always wearing a vest made of dragonhide and covered with as many protective enchantments as possible without being obvious.
At lunch, Brandt saw Tonks at the entrance to the Great Hall from where he sat at the staff table. Excusing himself from a conversation with Septima Vector, he went over to greet her. She was wearing her hair long and straight today, with a touch of red streaks on one side. She also had a large bag with her, larger than anything he'd seen her with previously.
After exchanging a greeting, Brandt asked, "So, how did you want to go about doing this?"
With feigned confidence, she grinned and said, "I was hoping to have a conversation with Lyra first, then we can talk to them together. I think it would be best if I do the girl talk before we talk to them about dating and relationships." Brandt nodded in agreement. "Do you have something to do with Harry in the meantime?"
"Harry got a letter from the girl at the record store, and wanted to talk to me about it." Tonks brightened up at hearing that. "I think he's mostly concerned with how to talk to a muggle, but also wanted to meet with her after his appointment with Minister Fudge."
"I think it will take a bit longer than that for me with Lyra," she told him.
"Well then he can do his homework until you are done," Brandt shrugged.
They only needed to wait a few more minutes before being approached by Harry and Lyra. Tonks started to guide Lyra away to have their conversation, saying, "We'll go find a private room, I'll send you a Patronus when we're done. Can you cast one or are you too 'Black' to do it?"
Brandt could certainly cast the charm, but just hid his annoyance and smile behind a mask of disappointment, and said, "Sadly I delved too far into the dark arts at Durmstrang to be able to conjure the guardian. Send me yours and I'll ask an elf to guide me to your location."
From there Brandt walked with Harry back to his common room where they sat down at a small table, to talk.
"So tell me about the letter you got from the girl in London," Brandt asked.
"Well, her mother didn't think the school existed, and she told me about the classes she likes. I tried to be vague and told her that the school is in an old castle and I like to take classes on plants and animals. In the owl I sent to her, I told her I'd be in London on the 30th but have a meeting in the morning."
Brandt rubbed his forehead between his eyes, "You sent her an owl?" Harry nodded, a bit confused. "Muggles don't get owls. Hopefully, the owl will put her letter in the postbox, instead of trying to pass it to her directly. I'll need to alert someone in the obliviator squad of the ministry to check up on her and see how it was delivered."
"Oops," Harry apologized.
"I'll need to get the information about the post office that Hogwarts uses. In the future, send muggle posts there first and they'll make sure it gets to the destination properly." Pausing for a moment to see that Harry understood, he continued, "Can you show me the letter from Narcissa?"
Harry passed over the letter and he read it thoroughly.
"Arcturus knows where she is now but I do not. It does seem like she listened to what you said and is taking your advice to heart. However, in the end, it is still up to your sister regarding anything in terms of her mother." Harry nodded.
"I'm going to head to an empty classroom and do some of my own work while waiting for an update from Miss Tonks, you should work on your homework until then as well." Harry nodded and the two went their separate ways.
About two hours later, Tonks's Patronus popped up in front of him, "We're ready for the two of you. Sorry for the hike, but we're in an empty classroom on the 6th floor. It's on the right-hand side from the main staircase, next to a knight with a red and white shield." The large rabbit winked out of existence.
After collecting Harry, the two of them made the long hike up to the sixth floor to find where Tonks and Lyra were. When they arrived, Tonks opened the door and let Harry in, but stopped Brandt outside.
"We need to have a quick conversation first," she said seriously, stepping outside and closing the door behind her.
"Something wrong?" Brandt asked.
"Maybe…" Tonks said with uncertainty. "First of all, I don't think the kids need to learn any of the mechanics related to sex. Lyra, and I assume Harry too, seem to know exactly how babies are made and she mentioned that they each have even helped with the delivery of demiguise babies." Brandt's eyes widened at that comment, but then just looked thoughtful.
Tonks snapped her fingers in front of Brandt's face, "Pay attention. I asked Lyra why she was assisting in the births of demiguises and not someone else, like a magizoologist, and she refused to say anything else on the matter. She also fully understood about menstruation but thought it would only start with her once she became an adult. She was under the impression that she would need to sequester and isolate herself while she was bleeding. She was shocked to hear that she might start her cycle sometime soon, and relieved that I was able to give products that would allow her to stay with her friends and not be forced to spend the time alone."
"Well, I…" Brandt started.
"I'm not finished," Tonks said with a hint of anger. "She also seemed to be under the impression that as soon as she did start menstruating, she would need to start having children. I don't know if she got these ideas from wherever she was raised or from Lord Black's pureblood, incestual relationship, bullshit; but I've told her she doesn't need to worry about children for at least fifteen years. I've been very patient about not being part of the club that knows all about what happened to Lyra after her father abandoned her and how she met up with Harry for his secret Dumbledore training. However, it's getting to the point where I need to know, especially if I'm going to be close to her."
Brandt stared at her serious face for a long moment before saying, "As of now, I can't discuss their background and upbringing. I will need to discuss it with others before I can speak about it with you."
"Why can't the children just tell me?" Tonks asked.
"Because I said so," Brandt told her with finality. "It needs to be discussed with others before letting you in on the secret." He glared at her again, "Now are you ready to proceed with the talk?"
Tonks glared back at him but nodded.
The two of them entered the classroom to find that Lyra had completely emptied the bag that Tonks had given her, and was in the process of showing Harry all of the pads, tampons, pain potions, cleansers, and books that Tonks had given her. Brandt was a bit shocked, but Harry seemed genuinely interested in everything and not grossed out like any other twelve-year-old boy he had ever met, including himself.
Tonks ran over to the table where they were and started to gather it all up, "Lyra, I told you that you didn't have to show Harry. I told you just to tell him it was 'girl stuff,' and you shouldn't have to talk about it with boys."
"It's just things for the moonblood," Lyra said. "Harry knows about it too. It's not some secret that boys don't know about."
Brandt pulled Tonks back away from the children, whispering to her, "Just leave it alone, Harry's showing remarkable maturity for his age."
Tonks whispered back, "It's not maturity, it feels to me like neither of them has ever been immature."
Brandt looked a bit sad at that comment, "Yeah… you're probably right." He gave a big sigh and turned back to the children. "Harry, Lyra, while it's perfectly fine to want to know about what Tonks was teaching to Lyra, it is not something that is discussed publicly. Women will normally discuss it with other women, or with a healer, but it isn't part of everyday normal conversation. Boys certainly don't talk about it with other boys or with girls." He raised an eyebrow towards Tonks, who gave him a shrug and a nod.
He continued, "From some things that Miss Tonks has just told me, I think I need to change the nature of our discussion and ask the two of you some questions first. If there's anything you don't want to answer, please say so. Ok?"
After getting nods from the two, he asked, "What do you think being an adult is like?"
Tonks wasn't expecting that as a question but just waited patiently for Harry and Lyra to discuss their answer after holding up a feather that created a silencing ward somehow.
"Being an adult means being in charge," Harry started. "It means doing more for your family and having children. Then teaching them things."
While that was essentially correct, it was a strange way to put it. Tonks decided to field a follow-up question, "How do you think you find someone you want to have children with?"
That one Lyra had an answer for right away, "You just know, and if they don't agree, you need to convince them."
"Convince them?" Tonks asked.
"Show them you're smarter, stronger, or better than them," Lyra said. "You don't need to fight, but just make sure they know you are more capable."
"I don't even know how to respond to that," Brandt commented. "Harry, what do you think?"
"Exactly what Lyra said," while nodding. "A girl should be better than me if she wants to have children, but I just like having friends right now."
Tonks was a bit shocked, but still said, "While you're 100% correct, that you should find a woman who is better than you in every way, you should make sure that you're as close as possible to her level too."
"Why would she want to be with me if I wasn't?" Harry asked, looking confused.
"Harry, Lyra," Brandt started slowly. "Is this how it was done in your family?" They both nodded back. "Ok, I understand now. In England and outside your family, things are done a bit differently, and that's what we wanted to talk to you about."
They both looked interested and adjusted their posture until they looked like they were paying attention in class.
"So first, what you need to know is that you both will not be adults until you are out of school. Even after that, you do not need to worry about getting married or having children until much later," Tonks started. "However, in the next few years, you will find that you may find yourself having urges to be more than friends with other boys, girls, or both."
Brandt gave Tonks a bit of a sour look, to which Tonks gave him a small tag of legilimency that said, "Got a problem?" to which he just shrugged, then he took over.
"Because being an adult and having children is a bit more complicated here than it is back at home, until that time comes, you're allowed and encouraged to practice everything leading up to it. It is very hard to find someone you're compatible with and even harder to figure out the ways to test for it. Even as an adult, you may still be trying to figure out how to find the right person for yourself."
Tonks was very confused with the wording Brandt was using and tried to suppress her desire to just beat the answers out of him. Though from Harry's explanation, beating up Brandt might signify the start of a courtship ritual. Regardless, it was all technically correct.
Brandt waited for a moment to let them absorb what he said and work out the cryptic nature of him saying that courtship for humans was different than demiguises. Then, after a slow nod from each child, he continued, "You'll know when you meet someone who you think you want to do more than just spend time with. When that happens, you should try to spend more time with them and try to see if you enjoy the same things or would like to learn more of the things the other person likes to do."
Tonks was a bit stunned, that seemed like the perfect explanation of what dating was supposed to achieve, however it left out the possibility of just dating someone for fun. So she jumped into the conversation.
"However, it sometimes gets a bit more complicated than that, as not every person you meet will be someone you want to spend all your time with. You might also find someone you don't want to be with forever but might enjoy spending time with now and then. That's also fine." Both children didn't take any time to think about what she said and just nodded and smiled.
Right as Tonks was about to speak again, Harry raised his hand. Tonks chuckled and said, "Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"Is that why Liz wants to hang out with me?" he asked.
Brandt explained, "The girl from the record store, they might get a chance to meet after his appointment with the Minister."
"Really?" Tonks smiled, "Five points to Harry! Yes, she probably wants to be more than just friends with you."
"But I don't think I want to be more than friends with her," Harry told Tonks.
"You should still meet with her, and just be friends then," Brandt said.
"When should I start asking boys to hang out, as that girl did with Harry?" Lyra asked, earning a smirk from Tonks.
However, it was Brandt who responded, with a touch of steel in his voice, "When you feel like it, and not a moment sooner. If a boy wants to be alone with you, as friends or otherwise and you don't want to, you tell him no. If he pressures you to say yes, leave the room or wherever you are. If he continues to bother you, feel free to hex him."
"Sometimes you might want to start with the hexing," Tonks added. "You'll know when it is appropriate to hex first instead of saying no."
"That goes for you too, Harry," Brandt added, "but also that if a girl tells you no, you need to stop there and leave her alone. There may be a time that she might say no, but mean yes. However, you should not associate with girls that play those kinds of games. No means no, and that's the end of it."
"Why would it mean anything else?" Harry seemed a bit confused. He looked to Lyra, who just shrugged.
"It shouldn't," Brandt said. "I guess the next thing we should cover is etiquette?" Tonks nodded, and he continued, "Hanging out with people when you want to be more than friends is called dating or courting. Almost every time, it is the boy who will ask a girl on a date. He will be the one who needs to plan what they are doing, and pay for anything that needs to be paid for; including food, transportation, and entertainment."
"That doesn't make any sense," Lyra butted in. "That just makes the girl seem weak."
"Five points to Lyra!" Tonks cheered her on. "That's exactly what it does. If you want to show the person you are dating that you're stronger, change things up."
"Miss Tonks is correct, but look at this another way. You said that you want to show the person you are with that you are stronger and smarter than them, right?" Lyra nodded. "Sometimes you might know for sure that you are stronger than them, but to be smarter, you could let them do things for you that you don't need them to. A boy paying for your lunch when you could do it yourself or protecting you from a wild animal doesn't mean you couldn't do it. However, if you let him do it for you, you don't take on whatever the risks are or the loss you would suffer from doing it yourself. That is being smarter, and if he doesn't want a girl who is stronger than him, then he'll have paid money for you already and gotten nothing in exchange later on."
"What the Steward is trying to say," Tonks told them, "Is that women are traditionally smarter and more manipulative than men; and that men are traditionally stronger and better providers. While this is true, both of you can be whatever you want to be, especially since both of you have magic. If you want to be stronger or smarter than the people you are romantically involved with, do it. Ideally, you want someone who constantly challenges you to be better than you are now, and they feel the same way about you."
Harry seemed to be unpacking everything he had been hearing. By now Brandt recognized a look in Harry's eyes when he seemed to be replaying memories in his head and was looking forwards to the boy learning occlumency to see if he was a natural or not.
After a minute, Harry seemed to come across what he wanted to remember and said, "Tonks said that we might want to be with boys, girls, or both. What happens then?"
"Ten points to Harry!" Tonks told him. "I did say that, and it's also why all the things we were talking about where one person has to be stronger and the other person needs to be smarter because they are a boy or girl is bollocks. Tradition is one thing, but people will love whoever they want to at the end of the day, and every relationship is different."
"What about children then?" Lyra asked.
Brandt wanted to weigh in, but Tonks just continued, "There are plenty of ways people can raise a child without needing to give birth to one. Adoption is one way of it happening. In the last war, there were a lot of people whose parents were killed and they needed homes. A lot of children ended up being raised by two fathers, two mothers, one of each, or just one. There are many other situations where a child could be raised by someone who didn't give birth to them." Tonks looked down at Harry, whose eyes had started to water, "Oh, I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean you, I forgot about your parents."
"You mean I didn't need to go with… them?" Harry asked.
"Shite!" Brandt cursed. "Tonks, out of the room, please."
"What?" she said, confused.
"Miss Tonks, get out of the room, now," he said sternly.
She left the room quickly, as she knew she touched a nerve, by mentioning the war and Harry's parents; but it also seemed much more serious than that. As soon as she was outside the room, she heard the door seal with a squelch, then the pure silence from a privacy charm went up inside.
Lyra was holding Harry in a big hug as he yelled at Brandt, "I could have gone somewhere else? Why did I need to go to my relatives? Dumbledore could have sent me anywhere, but he sent me there! Why?"
"I do not know. This is not something that we should ask him about yet either. Remember, first you need to deal with the situation with the Minister and Sirius Black. Then we can think about Dumbledore."
The desks started to rattle around the room and Brandt felt a pulse of energy from Harry that staggered him, Lyra hugged him tighter.
"For now, try to focus on the results of everything you went through. You have Lyra, you have your family, The Giver, the Lampong, and that giant snake."
Harry took a deep breath and calmed down, then returned the hug that Lyra was giving him. When he finished the hug, he wiped his eyes on his sleeve and Brandt passed him a conjured tissue to blow his nose. After he was done blowing, Brandt vanished the soiled tissue.
Harry still looked angry as Brandt told them, "Miss Tonks is very curious about some of the things you both spoke of tonight and is probably very confused about what just happened. I am going to consult with Severus about informing her about your childhood and the time on the island. Though I don't want to do any of it without your permission."
"What if she tells someone?" Lyra asked fearfully.
"I am under an oath not to tell anyone, so not even I could inform her. If someone does, then it would probably need to be Severus or Minerva. I could ask her to swear the same oath as I have."
Harry and Lyra held silent communication before agreeing. Technically, Brandt was only under oath not to reveal information about how Harry had ended up with Lyra, but it would be worth it to have Tonks under an oath covering everything.
"I'm going to go speak with Miss Tonks, and then I'll go visit Severus. Stay here in the room as long as you would like."
Brandt exited the room to find Tonks pacing with worry, her hair was changing from blue to green, and back to black as she marched back and forth. She walked straight up to him to try to push by into the room, but he stopped her.
"They're fine now, it's just a difficult situation," he told her.
"I just want to apologize, I didn't mean to bring up Harry's parents."
"That's not the issue," Brandt told her. "It's part of our whole secret club stuff. I wanted to thank you quickly for helping with everything today. You can imagine how I might have handled it by myself, except it would have been much worse. Go ahead and head home, I'm going to speak to some people about bringing you into the oaths we've taken to protect their secrets."
"But…" she started.
Brandt didn't even know what she was objecting to but needed to get going, so he just told her, "No buts. This is how it has to be," then he started walking off, leaving her no choice but to leave as well.
Brandt arrived at the Potions classroom and knocked on the door. Snape opened it to reveal a group of ten students all brewing potions in different cauldrons. Snape gave him a look and gestured towards his office. Right before they entered, a student yelled out, "My bottom fell out!"
Brandt turned around to see a student whose desk was now flooded with whatever was in his cauldron a moment ago. Snape blew over to him like a breeze, wind in his cloak, and waved his wand to vanish the solution spilling everywhere. He pointed to a large ledger on another desk to the side of the room.
"Please add to the list the cauldron number, the potion you were working on, and the step you had performed before it fell through. Then scrub out the cauldron, put it in the closet, and take the next one, starting over from the beginning." He turned around and went back into the office, with Brandt.
"How's the project going?" Brandt asked the Potions Professor.
"Oddly enough, quite well. They're learning quite a bit more by doing the same potions over and over, especially since the cauldrons themselves keep destroying their work instead of their own stupidity."
"You can be sure to thank Miss Tonks for bringing this project to you. She's also why I came to see you."
"Oh, ok," Snape said with slight surprise in his voice.
"What?" Brandt said, hearing the tone of his voice. "Did you think I was here for something else?"
"I thought you were here to talk about last weekend, but we can talk about Tonks instead."
"No, no, no," Brandt perked up, "now I want to know what happened last weekend. I didn't see you after you followed the dancing vampire girl. What happened?"
"Something that will never happen again, I don't know what I was thinking. Women are strange, I think she wanted me to be a vampire. Maybe if I could turn into a bat or grow my teeth out like Arcturus, I could have sealed the deal. Though now I see that taking myself out of the game years ago was the right move."
"No, definitely not," Brandt admonished him. "You said specifically you were told by a seer to stop living in the past. Doesn't matter when it was - years ago, like you said, or just last weekend. The past is the past. I'm going to another Harpies game next weekend. I need to sweet-talk some Wizengamot Lords, so I'm taking them with their families to the game. You can either come with me or I'll drag you back to The Harpies Nest after the game, but you're coming with me to try again."
"I'll think about it," Snape said with a sneer. "Why are you here again? What's going on with Miss Don't-Call-Me-That, Tonks?"
Brandt flopped down on the sofa towards the back of Snape's office and took a flask from his pocket and took a swig. "I had Miss Tonks come to the school today to help me give Harry and Lyra the Witches and Wands talk."
Snape's eyebrows and eyes went wide, then he summoned Brandt's flask to himself and took a swig. "So it didn't go smoothly?"
"Yes and no. Harry and Lyra seem to model most of their ideas of courtship and adulthood off of their family." Watching Snape pick up on what he meant, he added, "Yeah, so that went about as well as you could expect. Most of the conversation was correcting them on how humans approach romance, dating, and having children. The good news is that we didn't need to tell them anything about the mechanics of sex. After having the National Geographic experience, they know everything already. Tonks even said that the two of them have assisted in the birthing of baby demiguises." He summoned the flask back to take another drink.
"I never thought about something like that, but it makes sense… So, what went wrong?"
"Tonks was in the middle of discussing same-sex relationships and how adoption is possible to raise children. She brought up that there were many orphans from the last war that were adopted into other families and Harry realized that it may have been possible not to have gone to his Uncle's house. I got Tonks out of the room before he had his little breakdown, but now she is very curious, even more than she was before."
Snape summoned the flask back again and took a drink, "So, you want to have her swear a secrecy oath and fill her in?"
"It seems like we're going to need to. I just wanted your opinion on it since I'm under oath myself not to reveal certain details to anyone who doesn't already know. I'm picking up the full collection of photos tonight from winter break. I'm trading Alastor a favor in exchange for letting him see them. Maybe you can talk to Professor McGonagall and we can all have a drink while looking them over and discussing Miss Tonks as well?"
He gave a big sigh, "I'll speak with her about it. Wait for just a second, you're pen pals with Moody?"
"Strange how these things happen, I almost cast a killing curse on him last week and now we're collaborating on an investigation of a political figure." Brandt watched as Severus's face twisted through several confusing states, so he just smiled and added, "If you want the full story, you can get it at the pub next weekend."
After dinner, close to 10 p.m, Brandt changed his appearance to match his last visit to The Monarch and took a walk down Knockturn Alley. Even under disguise, he kept his hood up shrouding his face in shadow. As before, he knocked on the door and a peephole was opened to have a man grunt at him.
"What's your business?"
"I have a meeting with Serenity," he told the man.
Like before, he was escorted from behind down a long hall as their security diagnostics washed over him. The lobby was empty this time, as he arrived too early in the night or everyone was already occupied. The bouncer didn't bother to tell him to take his hood off and just walked him down the hallway with the beads until he arrived at Serenity's door, knocking on it with his club.
"Your appointment has arrived," he called out and waited for her to open the door.
After a minute, she opened her door and revealed herself wearing a floor-length golden dress, though, this time, it showed off her bare arms with silver gloves up to her forearms, and a simple red blindfold over her eyes.
"Come in," she smiled. The bouncer closed the door behind him as he entered.
He crossed the room, remembering the layout from before, and sat down in the large chair. Serenity laid back on the couch next to it as they shared a bit of silence.
"I received your bill earlier," Brandt began. "It was not as much as I thought it was going to be."
"That is for two reasons," she said and pulled out one of the hoohoo feathers he had given her. For starters, you provided a lot of the most expensive ingredients for the potions. The second is that your advice to burn them slowly yielded more ash than usual, and even though I couldn't see it myself, I could feel the difference while I slept. Some of the others who work here described a different feeling than I did, and if possible, I would like to buy more of this type of feather. Phoenix feathers do not produce the same effect."
"I don't have enough to sell at the moment," Brandt told her. "I might get more over the summer, and I can arrange for us to meet when I return from the collection."
She let out a sigh of acceptance and said, "I guess I'll just need to wait until then. I do have a few left that will be good to ration out."
She picked up her wand and swished it, causing several large boxes wrapped in brown paper and twine to float out of one of the back rooms and sit on the table.
Seeing the product, he called for Opal, who brought in a large chest filled with galleons and sickles. Just as she was about to open it up and verify the contents, there was a loud tapping on the door followed by a knocking.
"Open up Serenity!" it was the voice of the bouncer, "Your guest has a visitor."
She swished her wand towards the door, causing it to glow for a second and then open. Standing there was the bouncer with a very large owl perched on his baton. It flew into the room and landed on the table. Brandt looked at it strangely and saw that it was Hermes, the same owl that Harry had used on a few occasions. Though it was nearly twice as large as it had been the last time he had visited. The bird also looked both angry and tired.
"Thank you," Serenity said to the man and closed the door again.
Brandt relieved the bird of the message in his pouch and the bird seemed to deflate a bit, shrinking down to the size he had seen it before and then collapsing on the table. He unrolled the small paper the bird had been carrying and went into panic mode.
"Shit shit shit shit shit," he cursed.
"Is there something wrong?" the blind woman asked the obvious.
"I need to go," he said urgently. Then dug into his pocket and took a handful of whatever coins were in there, placing them on the table. There were at least a few galleons in there. "There's a collapsed owl on the table, it might need medical attention. I left money on the table, but I need to leave now. Please call Opal again if there are any problems with the payment"
Turning to the elf, "Opal, please take the photos back to the manor," the elf snapped her fingers causing all the packages to vanish then popped away herself.
Brandt ran out of the room, as Serenity started to ask if there was anything she could do. As soon as he got outside, he sprinted towards Gringotts, slowing down only a bit as he entered to not have the guards kill him for hostile movement. Inside the bank, he walked as fast as he thought would be allowed towards one of the fireplaces and paid five sickles to use the floo.
Arriving back at Black Manor, he called out, "Darby!" and the elf popped into the room. "Bring me a dragon scale jacket and my potions belt."
The elf looked alarmed and vanished, returning immediately with a jacket made of heavy dragon scales. Unlike dragon skin, this was very heavy, meant to function like plate armor, and was nearly impenetrable to most spells. The potion belt came right after and contained poisons, antidotes, healing potions, and various things that would explode. Dropping the note on the table, he picked up some floo powder and ignited the fire as he tossed it in, calling out "Hogwarts, Infirmary!"
As he vanished into the fire, Darby looked down and read the note that he had left:
Brandt-
Remember when Arcturus told us to contact you first before doing something, during that lesson with Stevens?
I'm not hurt, but I'll be in the infirmary until morning.
-Harry