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Of Earth and Stars

Chapter 11: Bloodlines

July 1989

"You have enough ingredients to feed a small army!" Amalia looked at her messy kitchen, an eyebrow hitched amusingly. She chuckled while Suri flitted around, gathering glasses from a cabinet, bowls from another, and back to the table to stir the lavender lemonade.

"You know we're making cookies, Granna," said Suri, pausing long enough to tie her hair back into a ponytail. "Eloise Greening, Sophia Saxby, and Mia Marker will all take some home to share, especially Mia. Her older brother Geoff eats like a hippogriff."

"I'm just teasing you, dear. I've missed having all of you girls around."

"I missed it too," Suri smiled at her grandmother. As much as she missed Hogwarts, the second she got off the Express and saw Amalia Rosier waiting for her three weeks ago, she realized how much she had missed her old friends and Vienna, but most of all her grandmother.

When the doorbell rang Suri glanced over everything in the kitchen and nodded, satisfied that she had everything they would need. Amalia Rosier smiled before she disappeared into the sitting room to read for the afternoon.

"Suri!"

"Mia! Sophia! Eloise!"

Squeals erupted in the foyer as hugs were had all around, even amongst the three girls that attended Beauxbatons together.

"This was such a good idea," said Eloise looping her arm through Suri's as the four girls made their way to the kitchen for lemonade and baking.

"I want to hear all about Beauxbatons," said Suri as Mia passed her a glass full of cold lavender-lemonade. "Tell me everything!"

"Soph, you tell her, you're the best storyteller," Eloise urged.

"There are four houses at Beauxbatons, of course," started Sophia Saxby, a twelve-year-old girl with medium-length red hair and brown eyes. "But it's not like Hogwarts where you're chosen. Everyone has to live in the four houses during the first four years. After that, you get to decide which house you like best and live in it for the last three years of school. Each house is dedicated to a direction: north, south, east, and west, and there's a specific view that the rest of the house's decor is based off."

"Unfortunately all three of us are in different rotations," Mia frowned.

"But we'll probably end up in the same house in our fifth year," said Eloise. "I wish you were with us, Suri."

"We probably won't," Sophia pointed out. "Remember, you really like the Eastern wing and I like the Northern one."

"That sounds amazing," Suri encouraged. For a brief moment, she was envious of the way Beauxbaton so obviously cared about appearance and beauty for their school. "What about your friends? Tell me about...Flora!"

"Fleur," corrected Mia. "Fleur Delacour in my house rotation. Did you know she's part veela? She'll be coming in August for a short holiday. It'll be great if you to meet then!"

Suri quirked an eyebrow, "Veela? Like the mascot for the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team?"

"Exactly. But she's only a quarter veela."

"So your headmistress is part giant and you've made friends with someone whose part veela. The most exciting thing we've got at Hogwarts is Peeves the poltergeist."

"He sounds...charming," Eloise tried, but her scrunched expression suggested otherwise.

"Anyway, between the three of us, you know all there is to know about Beauxbaton. Tell us about Hogwarts!"

"Tell us about Nathaniel Avery." Sophia wiggled her eyebrows at Suri.

"Nate is just a friend!" Though as her imagination often got the best of her, Suri imagined Nate holding her hand and the very thought of it made her want to vomit or violently shake him off. From the sitting room, where her grandmother had disappeared into, there was a crash like the sound of breaking glass.

"What was that," asked Mia, immediately looking alarmed.

"I'll be back." Suri was already on her feet and walking toward the sitting room. Pushing through the kitchen door she found Amalia waving her wand over her shards of broken glass and spilled lemonade, instantly charming the mess away.

"Granna, are you alright?"

"What?" Amalia, pale faced, looked up. "Yes, darling, I'm fine, I just…" she trailed off and smiled. "My hand slipped and well, accidents happen."

Suri didn't need legilimency to know Granna was lying. "Okay. Can I help you clean anything?"

"No, run along, dear. I'm sorry for scaring you and your friends." Amalia must have seen her expression. She smiled. "Really, Suri, I'm alright."

"Okay…" Suri stole one more glance at her grandmother before she returned to her three friends.

"Granna's glass was slippery so she dropped it," she explained to the girls. "Anyway, who's ready to bake cookies?"

Some time later, the girls lingered around the kitchen table, licking batter from spoons and spatulas as they waited for the chocolate chip cookies to be done.

"So," Mia said around a mouthful of batter. "There's Nate Avery who is basically your best Hogwarts friend, Mara Selwyn who at this point I can't quite tell if she's a friend or not, Gemma Farley who is a year older than you and the other first years in your house that you mostly hang out with."

"Oh, you forgot Oliver Wood," Sophia added. "But he's in Gryffindor, and that's Suri's rival house. That's kind of romantic."

"Oliver doesn't count," Suri interjected as she swiped batter out of the large mixing bowl they shared. "Besides, I already told you about what happened with Jessica Yates. He hasn't talked to me since then. He probably thinks I'm insane."

"You are insane," Eloise sighed. "And that's why we love you."

"That's not very helpful, Eloise," Sophia frowned. "What Jessica did and said wasn't very kind, or true. Her idea of Suri is all wrong."

"Suri, I've known you since we were five years old," said Mia, ticking off some of Suri's personality traits on her fingers. "Stubborn, competitive, and you would do anything for us. The very last thing you are is hateful."

"Thank you," Suri murmured, giving her friends the smallest of smiles. She knew if she had these three with her at Hogwarts, things would be incredibly different. Before Suri could follow her thoughts down a long spiral, the timer she'd set for the cookies dinged.

"Finally!"

X

After the girls had their fill of cookies and lemonade, Suri helped her friends wrap the leftovers to take home.

"I'm glad you're back, Suri," Sophia smiled, hugging Suri in the foyer. "It's just like old times!"

"I still wish you chose Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts." Eloise frowned as she hugged her as well.

"I like my choice," defended Suri, the pitch of her voice rose along with her irritation. She took a breath before calmly continuing. "But I do miss seeing you three all the time."

"We'll see each other plenty over the summer," Mia assured, and squeezed Suri's hand. "Besides, you're going to do quidditch training with my brother and me, remember? Geoff says he'll teach me some tricks that'll help us stand out. And you'll have to meet Fleur Delacour when she visits!"

Geoff Marker, Mia's older brother, was in his third year at Beauxbatons. Similar to Hogwarts, Beauxbatons allowed second years and up to try out for quidditch. Mia and Suri dreamed of playing quidditch long before they received their acceptance letters.

"Can't wait," Suri smiled. There was a flurry of more hugs and farewells before her friends finally left.

After clearing the leftover dishes, Suri ventured upstairs to her Granna's room where she had retreated when the girls had become too loud in the kitchen. Quietly, she pushed at the half-open white door that led to her grandmother's large suite.

"Granna?"

Amalia Rosier's room, though already expansive, included a sliding window that opened up to a small, private balcony. There she sat, staring at the city below at a patio table big enough for two chairs. Her deep blue eyes slid over to Suri as she quietly sat in the unoccupied chair.

The silence between them was palpable, but not awkward. Suri was used to silences like this. During these silences, Suri's guard slipped and she could feel the familiar, bittersweet sting of nostalgia that radiated from Granna. Like reading a familiar book, she knew what Amalia Rosier felt: the pain of losing her daughter—Suri's mother—the resentful confusion of Suri's father being in Azkaban, all tied into a deep brokenness for a world that no longer made sense.

All she wanted to do was fix the pain in her Granna's heart, but she had no idea where to begin. Instead, she slid her hand across the table and gently squeezed her grandmother's hand, just like she had done for her so many times over the years.

"Your lavender is blooming like crazy," Suri observed, fixing her gaze on the oblong flowerpots fixed on the balcony ledge.

"Do you know where the lavender comes from?" Granna seemed to search Suri's face, as one would do when looking for something that they've lost.

"Er, packets of seeds or a farmer's market," Suri guessed.

"No," said Amalia, a gentle smile on her lips. "These came from the Rosier Manor in Northern Ireland. We had a lavender field there. The best part were the days when the breeze came from the sea and the smell of lavender and salt air mingled together."

Suri met her grandmother's gaze, and immediately she saw the lavender field she described, and it became as though she were standing in the field. She could feel the long stems and petals against her hands and robes as she walked through the field. Not far away was her grandmother, her blonde hair in a loose ponytail, shielding her eyes against the sun while looking up. She looked years younger. Suri followed her gaze, just in time to see a figure expertly loop in the air on a broom.

"Contessa, come down, the tea is ready!" Amalia's voice was firm, but not angry.

"Mum, you know I hate my full name!" The figure on the broom called back irritably, guiding her broom to the ground.

"Oh forgive me, Tessa," Amalia laughed, "but I will always think "Contessa" is lovely."

"Contessa is a name for someone boring."

Suri watched as a girl fairly close to her age jump from the broom and land lightly on her feet. This girl was Tessa Rosier. Even if Amalia never said her name, Suri would have known it was her mother, based off the pictures she had seen in the yearbook and in rare old photos Amalia had shown her.

"Tessa," Suri murmured and stepped forward, knowing full well that neither Amalia nor Tessa could hear her or see her, since this was her grandmother's memory. Instead, Suri compared herself to the memory of her mother. Even at twelve, Tessa Rosier had a willowy figure, and was a couple of inches taller than Suri. Her long, chestnut brown hair hung thickly down hair back, tousled by the wind. Tessa had the same deep blue eyes as her mother, and her fair complexion maintained a golden glow from the summer sun that dusted light freckles across her nose.

Suri felt the only similarities she shared with her mother included the slight arch or her eyebrows before the fine, straight bridge of her nose that gave way to full lips. Even from a young age, Suri could tell Tessa was beautiful.

She was so distracted by the image of her mother, that she did not noticed when Amalia quietly closed her mind off, preventing Suri to see anymore of her thoughts. Eventually, Suri blinked her grey-blue eyes and shook her head before smiling softly at her grandmother.

"Rosier Manor is beautiful."

"Was beautiful," Amalia corrected gently.

"What happened to it?"

"Since I moved here, it is no longer under anyone's care."

"Oh," Suri frowned in thought. "Since it's a Rosier Manor, isn't there another Rosier that could live there, technically it's still ours, right?"

"It doesn't belong to the Rosier family. It belongs to my family—the Maeve family. When I married your grandfather, as a gift to him, I christened it with his name. The house is usually passed down to the oldest Maeve witch alive. So, it is still mine."

"And it would have been my mum's."

"Yes. And when the time comes, it will be yours."

Suri pictured the house in her mind's eye, processing the idea that there is a home somewhere in Ireland that would one day belong to her. "Can we visit it, Granna?"

Amalia grew a couple shades paler. With a faltering smile she reached across the iron table and patted Suri's hand. "One day we will. But not yet."

Suri read her grandmother's veiled expression. By the way Amalia's voice shook, Suri knew her grandmother wasn't ready to visit the house, aside from in her memories.

"You're very good at piecing together family traditions," Amalia complimented, changing the subject.

"You made sure I knew all about the Maeves, Rosiers, and the Blacks," Suri smiled. "But my friend Nate made sure I knew all about the twenty-eight pureblood families."

"Did he," asked Amalia, her tone light, but her deep blue eyes were guarded. "Can I give you a short test then?"

"I guess." Suri pulled her hand back and then folded her hands beneath her chin as she listened carefully.

"Suppose the Rosier Manor wasn't a gift, and it belonged to the Rosier family. It would have been passed down to the oldest Rosier planning to start a family."

"So it would have been my mother's," Suri answered, furrowing her brows together. "That doesn't change."

"What if there was another Rosier about to have a child born before you?"

"Then it would belong to them," Suri answered. She cocked her head to the side. "But there isn't another Rosier born before me, so it would still be mine. This isn't a very hard test, Granna."

"But what if there was a Rosier born before you?"

"Then I would have a brother or sister," Suri frowned, that would be unlikely. She knew her parents were seventeen when she was born. "Or a cousin. Do I have a cousin, Granna? If they were born before me, then they would be at Hogwarts too, but as far as I know, I'm the only Rosier at Hogwarts right now. Unless they're a squib…"

"You know your mother was an only child. However, growing up, she did have a cousin about four years older than her. His name was Evan Rosier and he loved her like a sister until the war dragged them apart."

"Did he have a kid?" Suri leaned forward at this sudden new information of a mysterious family member.

"At the time, he fancied at young woman named Mabel Avery. However Evan was too dedicated to the war to care about much else, even when Mabel told him he would soon be a father."

"Mabel Avery…" Suri frowned.

"In that same year, in the spring before you were born, Mabel gave birth to a son, and Evan was not around for his son. Shortly after his son was born, Evan was killed, and his son never took his father's name."

"If he was born in the same year I was, then his son would be in my year," said Suri. Her eyes widened. "The only Avery I know is Nate! I remember him telling me that he has a stepfather, but he never changed his name. Granna, Nate is my cousin?!"

"The timeline seems appropriate," Amalia answered. "Though I never met the boy. The way you talk about him reminds me of when Tessa and Evan were very young and inseparable."

Suri jumped up. "I need to write to Nate right now. He knows everything about the pureblood families, so he had to know about this!"

Suri ran to her room and riffled through her belongings until she found a bit of parchment. She quickly dipped a quill in ink and wrote one simple sentence without bothering to address it or write that it was from her. The note simply read: Why didn't you tell me we were cousins?

Once dried, she tied it to the leg of Humphrey, her beloved owl. "Take this to that idiot, Nathaniel Avery," she murmured before letting her owl loose.

X

Two weeks passed before Humphrey returned, tapping on her bedroom window as Suri made her bed one morning.

Unlatching her window she allowed Humphrey in and took the note tied to his leg. It was the same bit of parchment she had sent two weeks ago. Under her note was an equally simple reply:

Took you long enough.

Author's Note:

Your reviews are love!

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