"Mum, there's an owl!" Percy yelled excitedly, running down the stairs.

"Where?" Charlie demanded in disbelief, bursting out of the room that he occupied alone at the moment.

"Coming toward the house!" Percy yelled over his shoulder as the door to the twins' room banged open and Silas and Regis hurried toward the stairs.

Andromeda moved from cleaning the sitting room to look out the kitchen window as the rest of her children thundered down the stairs to join her and the two youngest Weasleys. "Ah," she smiled. "Hogwarts owl!" She opened the window and let the bird drop the letter onto the table and zoom out of the window.

"Read it!" Silas said eagerly.

"Yeah, Mum!" agreed Regis, climbing up on his chair at the table.

Dora stood in the doorway as their mother opened the letter, smiled again, and began to read:

To Mum, Dad, Charlie, Dora, Percy, Silas, Regis, Tommy, and Elsie:

I meant to write before, but it's been a little rough so far. At least it's the weekend now. I'm in Gryffindor, but it's been all right so far. The boys in my dorm are decent and one of them acts kind of like the other twins with their pranks. I did meet another first year on the boats, and even though he got Ravenclaw, I think we might be friends. I don't much like the Slytherins I've met so far, and I don't think they like me, either. One of them has Death Eater parents in Azkaban. Reminds me of somebody Dora knows—but I don't think he brags about it like she does.

Anyway, classes are okay so far too. I like Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts, but Transfiguration is not the best. History of Magic is going to be boring; all the older students say so and the rest of us agree now. The Potions professor hates Gryffindors, and I don't think he likes my hair, so Potions is horrible.

Thanks for the treats, Mum. I miss your cooking and I miss everyone at home. I'll keep writing, but you all need to write to me too.

Anyway, I should either sleep or do homework. Can't be at the bottom of the class now, can I?

Love,

Will

"Gryffindor," Dora groaned. "No!"

"That was what he wanted," Andromeda said to Dora. "He and your father had a very serious discussion about that, and Will decided that was what was best for him."

"What did they discuss?" Dora demanded to know.

"I didn't ask them," Andromeda replied. "You could ask Will if he comes home for Christmas."

"IF?!" asked most of her children together.

Andromeda smiled. "Sometimes students stay at Hogwarts for the holidays," she told them. "And some day, when you all attend school, you too are allowed to stay too—though we will miss you very much."

Percy was frowning slightly, thinking about something else. "Who is the Potions professor, Mum?"

"Severus Snape," Andromeda answered. "He's Head of Slytherin House and a friend of the Malfoys."

"Oh!" Dora exclaimed. "I know him! He hates gingers, Cissa warned me before I met him. He makes all their special potions."

"Great," Charlie said, shaking his head. "Do you think he'll stay at Hogwarts a long time?"

"Oh, probably," his mother said ruefully. "He'll probably teach all of you since I believe he started just recently."

"It's okay," Dora said. "He's mean but he doesn't actually hurt you. He just says nasty things to try to embarrass you."

"How do you know?" Silas asked his older sister.

She scowled. "He was mean before Rodolphus told him that I was part of their family and he ought to be nicer to me. I don't think Ronan liked him much either—I wonder who the girl with the Death Eater parents is?"

"Not well-known Death Eaters, surely," Andromeda agreed. "Or we would have heard of them."

"Maybe," Charlie shrugged. "We don't know every Death Eater."

"No," Andromeda agreed. "Well now, some of you ought to sit down and write your oldest brother a letter."

"And send him another treat?" Regis asked, failing to hide his excitement.

Andromeda couldn't help laughing slightly. "Perhaps, Reg," she said, ruffling his hair as she walked past him into the kitchen. "We'll see."

It was a rare occasion that Ronan was allowed to visit his Aunt Narcissa anymore because of his own behaviour, but some time in November, his grandfather had to go abroad and refused to take Ronan with him. The end result was that Ronan was to stay at Malfoy Manor for two weeks while Desmond was gone, and Ronan was determined to take advantage of the time he had away from his own home.

He did not like to be anywhere near his cousin Draco, which turned out to be a bit more difficult than he expected, as the four-year-old followed him nearly everywhere. Finally, though, he managed to shake off the younger boy and locate his aunt alone in the drawing room.

She looked up at him when he entered the room, then asked, "Did you need something, dear?"

"Cissa," he began quietly, walking into the room and moving closer to her, "did you know that Grandfather wants to send me to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts?"

The woman looked at him for a moment, then answered, "I did hear something of the sort."

"You would never send Draco to Durmstrang, would you?" Ronan asked her with a frown.

"I think not," Narcissa said firmly.

Ronan considered how to ask his aunt what he needed to ask, and saw that she was smirking at him slightly as if she knew what he was going to say. "May I borrow an owl to send a letter?" he asked, deciding to just go for it.

"And who would you be writing to, young man?" Narcissa asked him.

"No one less than pureblood," Ronan replied with a smirk.

"Hasn't Desmond strictly forbidden—" Narcissa began, but Ronan interrupted her without a second thought.

"Grandfather will not keep us apart forever," Ronan said sharply, looking straight into his aunt's blue eyes. "I know you believe the Dark Lord will return, and with him, my mother and father."

Narcissa raised an eyebrow at the boy's rude manner. "There is no need to interrupt me, Ronan. You will have your turn to speak if you exercise patience."

Ronan glared at her for a second before reminding himself that he should be on his best behaviour if he wanted to get his aunt to help him. "Of course," he said with an apologetic nod.

"As it is," Narcissa said, glancing out into the grounds, "I agree with my sisters about the Dark Lord. There is no point in separating the faithful from each other when they are sure to be reunited."

"Thank you—"

Narcissa held up a hand, and her nephew fell silent. "You may borrow an owl, but you must not involve Lucius, or Draco. Can you manage that?"

"Yes, Aunt Cissa," Ronan said breathlessly, and she gave him a small smile.

"You're like both of your parents," she said to him. "And becoming more like each of them every day. Be careful, Ronan."

"I will," he agreed. "Thanks."

Charlie was the one who spotted this owl, but was slightly confused when he opened the kitchen window and it flew right past him to his twin. "Oh," Dora said, looking down at the parchment. "Mum—"

"That's a Malfoy owl," Andromeda said with a frown, looking over from the stove where she was cooking lunch. She hurried over and Dora looked up, hesitating to hand over the letter. "Let me test it for jinxes."

"Why?" Silas frowned.

"Because the Malfoys don't like us," Charlie said, crossing his arms. "Why would they write to us?"

"I don't think it's from them," Dora protested as her mother took the letter and tapped it with her wand. "Mum!"

"I wouldn't want you to be cursed with something meant for your father or me," Andromeda told her older daughter, handing the letter back. "Though sending a curse in a letter is childish at best. It is safe."

Dora opened the letter quickly and breathed, "It's Ronan."

Andromeda nodded. "Is he okay?"

"Um...he wants to firecall me tonight," Dora frowned, looking up at her mother. "That's all he said."

"All right," Andromeda said, frowning. "I'd like to be there at first to make sure that everything is okay, though."

Dora nodded, glancing at Charlie and seeing him also frown at her. "Be careful," Charlie said to her. "If he's not supposed to talk to you, you could get all of them in trouble with Desmond."

"It's not my fault," Dora snapped at her twin. "And it's not Ronan's fault either!" She stomped away from her mother and brother, her cousin's letter clutched in her hand.

Later that evening after supper, Arthur took the rest of the children into the sitting room so that Andromeda and Nymphadora could wait alone by the fireplace. Dora was quiet as they sat there, but Ronan was only a couple minutes late and looked annoyed when he appeared in the flames.

"Ronan," Dora breathed, and the boy looked around at her, alarmed when he saw Dora's mother. "No, it's okay," Dora said quickly. "She wanted to make sure that you're okay."

"I—well, mostly," Ronan answered, somewhat distractedly. "Grandfather wants me to attend Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts, and I need to figure out how to stop him."

"Oh," said Dora in horror. "Your parents would not like that."

"They would not," Andromeda agreed with a sigh. "Besides, their Headmaster is a traitorous Death Eater. Your parents would be furious."

Ronan sighed. "I've tried to tell Grandfather that Mum and Dad wouldn't approve, but he won't listen."

Nymphadora frowned. "Go see your parents," she said. "Maybe Desmond will listen to them."

Ronan winced. "Grandfather hasn't been able to get permission to see them because of me," he said. "The Grouch—I mean, Mr. Crouch—thinks I'm not to be trusted."

Dora burst out laughing. "You call him the Grouch? That's amazing!"

"Be on your best behaviour and convince your grandfather that you really want to see your parents before you go off to school," Andromeda suggested. "Tell him it means something to you to see them now that you're a bit older."

"I'm not sure if he'll believe me," Ronan sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, what else could you do?" asked Dora. "Tell him that you want to see your parents for Christmas? And your birthday?"

"Oh yeah!" Ronan said, his face lighting up a little. "He might be more inclined to agree for that. After all, we haven't done much for my birthdays since Mum and Dad were taken."

"That's awful," Dora said flatly. "I'm sending you a present this year, and I don't care what anyone says."

"Send it to Cissa," Ronan said. "Wrap it twice. But also you don't have to."

Dora rolled her eyes. "Someone should," she huffed. "Don't worry: I'll figure it out."

Ronan gave her an appreciative grin. "Thanks," he said. "And happy birthday, by the way."

"Thanks," Dora said, grinning back. "You'd better show up at Hogwarts, do you hear?"

"I'll do my best," Ronan replied. "Thanks." And he was gone.

Dora continued to look into the fire and sighed after a few moments, turning and saying, "Thanks, Mum."

Andromeda watched her daughter walk out of the room and head for the stairs before putting out the fire and cleaning the area of soot and ashes. Later that evening, she told Arthur what was going on, and he shook his head. "I'm not sure it's the best idea for him to be contacting her right now," he said.

"Well, he doesn't have anyone else," Andromeda answered distantly. "It's not his fault that he's missing his parents, and it's rough to change position in the family like he has. Dora told me the other day that Ronan gave her access to everything at Lestrange Manor by accident."

"What?" Arthur said in surprise.

"Oh, she has no idea what that means," Andromeda mused. "I do wonder if Ronan knows by now what that means—I'm sure it's another reason why Desmond was so eager to bring Dora back to us."

"But she has access to everything...great," said Arthur, shaking his head.

"Well, she would have anyway, most likely, if she had stayed with them until she was older," answered Andromeda.

Arthur looked concerned, but said nothing and continued to get ready for bed.

Desmond Lestrange was slightly annoyed with his grandson. The boy refused to ask for anything else for his birthday and Christmas but to visit his parents in Azkaban. And not only did the boy say that he really wanted to see Bellatrix and Rodolphus before he started school, but Ronan had also become an angel overnight.

Ronan had shown that he knew perfectly well how to behave in any pureblood situation, and Desmond had to agree with some of his peers: Ronan acted like his mother. This irked Desmond somewhat as he tried to consider what to do with his grandson's request. The boy must really want something if he was behaving properly, Desmond decided. He knew he couldn't treat Ronan roughly, as that sort of thing had never worked with Bellatrix, and certainly made her and Ronan worse.

Desmond would see if he could get an appointment to talk over the request and hoped that trying to get Ronan's request fulfilled would calm the boy into proper behavior for an extended period of time.

On December 20th, Ronan was called into his grandfather's study and told to get ready to go to Azkaban. Ronan was breathless with excitement and rushed away to get ready.

Desmond himself was not thrilled to be visiting his sons in Azkaban after almost the three years they had effects that the prison and its guards could have on people. He just hoped that Ronan wouldn't be too upset by the visit.

An hour later, the two Lestranges met in their Entrance Hall, and Desmond handed the boy his heavier cloak. "You'll need it," he told his grandson.

"Oh, okay," Ronan said, took the cloak without a fuss, and went with his grandfather immediately.

Upon arrival, Ronan was not happy to see Aurors even though he knew they would be there. He kept a neutral expression on his face and stayed right beside his grandfather. He did not speak as they took the boats to the prison island, but shivered against the cold, doing his best to stay calm.

Ronan hadn't anticipated having to wait in the dark courtyard of Azkaban while freezing rain poured down on them. He could hear screams and cries from some of the prisoners, but could not hear his parents among them. It was unnerving, besides all the thoughts and fears that crept into his mind.

Finally, they were taken to a room and told, "Enter. We will be watching."

Desmond only frowned as he entered the room, but Ronan was shocked when he saw his parents sitting in the room, chained to the table. The boy hung back, seeing his very pale mother and his father, who seemed very alert and jumpy.

"Ronan," whispered Bellatrix hoarsely, her dark, hooded eyes fixing on him. "Where's Dora?"

"Home," Desmond answered firmly before Ronan could respond. "Ronan asked to come see you."

"Are you at school now?" Rodolphus asked, frowning as he tried to think how old his son was.

"Next year," Ronan said. "I'm almost eleven—but grandfather wants to send me to Durmstrang."

"No!" Bellatrix snapped, glaring at Desmond and clenching her fists in a rattle of chains. "He must attend Hogwarts!"

"It's tradition," Rodolphus murmured.

"Dora's with her parents," Ronan blurted out. "Grandfather sent her away—"

"I told him to if something happened," Rodolphus snapped, and both Ronan and Bella stared at him. "Dora was in more danger without us. She needed to be with her mother."

Bellatrix still looked unhappy, but seemed to accept her husband's words. "Keep talking to her," she told her son, ignoring Desmond's scowl. "Be subtle."

"Of course, Mother," Ronan said, feeling a great relief wash over him, and he stepped forward, hugging her cautiously and blinking back tears when she hugged him more tightly than he could ever remember her doing before. "I love you," he whispered, and she murmured the same.

He hugged his father, who hugged him as normal, but didn't say anything when Ronan stepped back. Desmond and Ronan said their goodbyes and left, the young boy shivering and feeling sick. "I don't feel well," he said to his grandfather when they had reached the mainland again and Desmond had reached out to take a hold of the boy to disapparate.

Desmond looked at the boy carefully, then performed a charm which lifted some of the nausea Ronan was experiencing. "Let's go home," he said, and took Ronan's arm and disapparated.

"I'll be in my room," Ronan murmured, wanting to just curl up into some warm blankets and block out the awful things he'd seen and heard. He didn't want to remember his parents as he had just seen them.

"Have some chocolate," Desmond said to him, and Ronan scowled. "It will help with the effects of the dementors," Desmond told him.

"Okay," Ronan said, and turned away, then stopped and looked back. "May I have the mirror back?"

"Absolutely not," said Desmond sharply. "I've no doubt you'll do your best to follow your mother's words and embarrass the family by trying to befriend that girl at school. I only hope you'll do the second thing she said, and be subtle."

Ronan scowled at his grandfather and walked out of the room. His grandfather was smarter than he'd realised.

All of the Weasley children were excited to welcome their oldest brother home from Hogwarts, but none were more thrilled than Dora and Charlie. To them, Will's return meant their starting Hogwarts in the fall after the long days of summer. Dora and Charlie had already turned eleven, but had both opted to wait until Will had returned home so that they could all get their school things together.

Both Tommy and Elsie clung onto Will until he could hardly move, and he laughed at them, saying, "Hey, it's not like I wasn't home for Christmas."

The younger twins were also excited to see their brother and weren't far behind Tommy and Elsie, running around him and asking him questions about life at Hogwarts.

"Let Will breathe," their mother laughed as Will attempted to get his youngest two siblings away from him and failed.

Will gave up on this and looked at Charlie and Dora. "You two ready for school this year?" he asked them. "Are you two ready to bring honour to our family?"

Dora giggled at this and Charlie simply grinned. "Well, at least we won't totally embarrass the family," he told his brother. "Even Percy can do the same spells as us. He's really smart."

Will raised his eyebrows at Percy. "Wow," he said to the eight year old. "Going to show us all up in school?"

"No," Percy said uncomfortably.

"You all have things you're good at," Arthur said, looking at his children.

"And perhaps you can help each other at school," Andromeda told them. "If you need it."

Arthur grinned. "Your mother helped Cole with his last year in Arithmancy," he said. "It's nice when those who understand can help those who need a little assistance. All right, Tommy, Elsie, get off him and let him take his things upstairs."

The five year old and three year old reluctantly backed off, but were extra excited and kept running around and around the others. After some minutes of chatter, Tommy and Elsie lost interest and went back to playing in the sitting room, and the parents stayed downstairs as the other five children went upstairs with Will.

"So, did you get made fun of?" Dora immediately wanted to know.

Will gave her a weird look, then said, "Well, of course. I mean, I am in Gryffindor, so naturally there are other students who don't like me. By the way, Dora, do you know Alvin Nott and Lauren Avery?"

Dora frowned. "Yeah, but he's annoying and she's not much better."

"She was decent until we were Sorted," Will shrugged. "He's a jerk, though."

"You talked to her on the train?" Dora said in surprise. "I didn't think any of the other purebloods liked Weasleys!"

"They're wary of us," Will agreed, "but I think they're curious because of who our mother is. It's as if they think we might turn out to be like the House of Black instead of Dad's family. They asked about you. I think you'll be what they're looking for, Dora."

"I will not," Dora huffed. "I might be more like Aunt Bella than my own mother, but I'm still too different—none of them liked me very much when I was with Ronan's family."

Charlie looked at her in surprise. "Really?" he said. "We thought you were their chosen one."

Dora rolled her eyes at them. "No, they didn't like me because I'm special," she said. "And I know most of them don't like Weasleys, but none of them would actually say that around me or the Lestranges because they were afraid of them. The Lestranges don't like our family, either, but I think Mum and Bella being sisters makes things difficult."

"Why would that be difficult?" Charlie asked in annoyance. "Bella is evil: she hurts people. She stole you from us, and she destroyed Mum's only friend. I don't understand why Mum still likes her."

"Because Mum loves her family," Will said. "You know what she's been trying to teach the twins and Percy about getting along because they are family." The twins and Percy both started to protest, but Will held up his hand. "I know," he said. "We're all different. But listen to me: outside of our house, at Hogwarts, there are a lot of people that don't like us. We have to stick together as a family, just like Mum and Dad have always told us. We have to."

"Dora's going to be a Slytherin, though," Silas said. "How is that going to work if the rest of us are Gryffindors?"

"Speak for yourself," Regis said to his twin dramatically. "I'll be a Hufflepuff."

"HA!" said Percy. "The day I'm a Slytherin you will."

Dora couldn't help giggling at his statement, and everyone laughed. "We'll see each other sometimes," she said. "We can still eat meals together, and I'm sure I can meet you in different places to study or whatever. I don't imagine many of the Slytherins will actually like me."

Charlie frowned. "Then why would you be a Slytherin?"

"Because that's where I'm supposed to be," Dora huffed. "I'm sure of it."

"Because that's where Ronan is supposed to be," Will said with a long-suffering sigh. "But I do agree: Dora would be a good Slytherin."

"Am I going to be the only Slytherin?" Dora asked, looking around at her younger brothers.

"I don't want to be a Slytherin," Silas said defiantly.

"I think you'd fit right in," Percy said, and Silas' mouth dropped open.

"It's not an insult," Dora interrupted the two, but Percy muttered that it was.

"Well, I think the same," Regis sighed. "I think we could be, but I still don't know if I want to be."

Silas stared at his twin. "Are you insane?!" Regis simply looked at Silas unapologetically while the other three looked between each other and the younger twins awkwardly. "Are you even my twin?"

Charlie did not like this. "Silas, no pair of twins is exactly the same, identical or not," he said. "We all know that Regis is entitled to his own thoughts, just as you are."

"You never told me you thought that," Silas said.

"Well, I thought you would know," sighed Regis.

"Twins don't automatically share minds," Charlie said to the younger twins.

Silas simply shook his head, Regis staying still. Percy, however, had picked up a book out of Will's open trunk and was looking through it. "Transfiguration?" Will mused. "I'm not exactly sure how good I'm going to do in that subject later. I think it might get really difficult."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Percy told him, and Will grinned.

"Thanks," he said.

"May I take this and read it?" the boy asked, receiving a nod.

"I don't know what you're going to do with it, unless you're going to practise more advanced spells with Mum before you're off to Hogwarts yourself," Will answered. "But sure."

Percy blushed slightly, but said thanks again and left the room, Charlie glancing after him thoughtfully. "What's the matter, Charlie?" Regis asked him.

Charlie shook his head. "I worry about him," he said. "That's all."

"Why?" Silas asked. "He's fine."

"You wouldn't understand," Charlie said, and was glad to see that Will agreed with him.

"Yes, he's smart, but that's a good thing," Dora sighed. "I don't care if he's smarter than me, or faster to learn than me. I think that'll be great if we need his help to understand stuff, like Will said. If he's the best in his year, that's great! That's our family being the best. We should all try to be the best we can be."

"Yes," Will agreed. "Even if that's just Quidditch."

"I wonder what Tommy will be good at?" Silas said with an evil smirk. "Probably whining to Mummy."

Regis chuckled, but seemed slightly uncomfortable, and Will warned him, "Don't be mean to Tommy or Mum will curse you again, remember?"

Silas scoffed at this. "Not if she doesn't see it," he said. "We've already gotten away with lots of things since that happened. Just be glad we're not doing it to you."

"I'll hex you," Will promised his little brother. "The rules changed, remember?"

"You will not," Silas laughed.

"Don't do it," Will said again. "Now get out, all of you, so I can unpack." Charlie raised an eyebrow, and Will added, "Not you. It's your room too—unless, of course, we're adding another room to the house. Does anyone know when Mum's having her next baby?"

"She says she's done," said Dora. "I don't know, but I hope so." She shuddered at the thought of more babies in the house.

"Dora doesn't like babies," Silas laughed.

"I don't blame her," Charlie shrugged. "I don't much like them either."

"At least babies grow up," said Will as he shooed the others out the door. "I'll be downstairs to fly as soon as I've changed."

"We're not allowed to fly after dark," Dora told Will. "Remember?"

"We'll see about that," Will answered. "We'll talk about it over supper."

The others regarded him doubtfully as they left, but filed out of the room.

As it turned out, when Arthur and Andromeda heard Will and Charlie asking for permission to fly together for a little while since Will had been gone since Christmas, the parents looked at each other, and Arthur said, "You have an hour, boys. And Dora."

There was a loud cheer from the older children and Tommy said, "I want to fly too!"

"There's not enough brooms," Charlie said to the youngest brother. "There's only four."

"That's not fair!" Tommy complained loudly, but the others ignored him.

Their parents knew that the older children usually took turns on the four brooms anyway, but didn't say anything as Percy distracted Tommy by promising to teach him how to play chess with Charlie's new chess set. Charlie merely frowned at the two and warned them not to lose the pieces, but Will shrugged and told his brother, "You can summon missing pieces, Charlie."

"Even if they eat it or something?" Charlie scoffed.

"Possibly," their mother said. "But it might be painful. I wouldn't recommend eating toys or games."

"You're funny, Mum," Tommy said to her, laughing, and she smiled at him.

Getting to her feet, Andromeda said to her children, "I made a dessert for you all tonight in honour of Will coming home for the summer. Do any of you want some?"

The dessert received nearly the same enthusiasm as their permission to play Quidditch, and Will shouted, "Thanks, Mum!" over top of all the others.

Andromeda gave him a special smile and placed the first piece of pie on his plate. It didn't take long for the family to demolish the entire dessert, and Will, Charlie, Dora, Silas, and Regis piled outside, ready to take their allotted hour to play Quidditch together.

Arthur helped his wife clear off the table as the other three children left the dining room, two going upstairs and Elsie going to play in the living room. "It's going to be quite a transition when most of the children are in school," Arthur said thoughtfully. "The house might actually be quiet for once."

"You'll miss the noise," Andromeda told him with a grin. "But it will be something. I think there will be quite a difference even when Will and the twins go to Hogwarts."

"We'll soon know," Arthur agreed. "It won't be long until they're off to school."

"When are we taking them to Diagon Alley?" Andromeda asked. "I was thinking it ought to be closer to September 1st so that there's less chance of them losing things."

"Probably wise," Arthur said. "I'm not sure that we should buy two new sets of books for them, though."

Andromeda considered this for a moment, then said, "Well, I checked to see if I have any of the books they currently need, and I think Dora might be interested in one or two of my old books—purely because my sisters have both written in them."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Nothing that she shouldn't see?"

"No," Andromeda answered. "But I do know that she'll face ridicule if she goes to Slytherin with old, torn up books. I mean, they don't look very used, and I think Dora would appreciate it if the books had meaning to her."

"I see," Arthur said. "But you think Charlie could do with new books, or do you want to get his things second hand?"

"Some new for both, and some secondhand, and some that Will used, if they're in good enough shape," Andromeda replied promptly.

"I see," Arthur answered in amusement. "You had already prepared an answer for that."

"Well, it's just something I've been thinking about a lot," Andromeda sighed. "I know we got all new books for Will in hopes that they would last through a few of the children, but I'm not sure how that's going to work with the other seven children."

"At least it's not every year," Arthur mused. "You forget when having children that all of them need to go to school eventually."

Andromeda couldn't help laughing as she set the dishes to begin washing themselves. "Yes."

"We'll figure it out," Arthur said as they walked out of the dining room and sat down in the living room. "I'll talk to Will and the twins later this summer so they can figure out what they want to do."

"If they're not in the same House, they can't share books," Andromeda said. "At least, not easily."

Arthur nodded. "We'll make sure they have what they need."