Monday, January 5th 1998
Things were escalating. The war kept getting worse. Minerva had woken up this morning to news that Arnold Hastert and his wife Rolanda had been killed by Death Eaters. They had both been very active members of the Order and had done a lot of good in the Wizarding World. Minerva put her copy of the Daily Prophet away in her bedside table and got ready for the day. She did he best to cover up the dark eye circles. Sleep did not come easy when war raged outside. Minerva had been having horrible nightmares of Collins Mansion being overrun by Death Eaters and You-Know-Who himself.
Minerva walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to find Lucy half asleep in her cereal. She smiled a little and sat down beside her. "Alright, love?"
"Yeah," Lucy said with a yawn. "I don't want to go back to school."
"I know," Minerva said as she picked up a piece of toast and started buttering it. "You've been complaining about it for the past few days."
"She wasted most of her break dreading school starting again," Daniel said, coming into the kitchen with his backpack in his hands. He looked out the door and called, "Nina, let's go! You won't get breakfast if you take too much longer!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Nina called as she raced down the stairs towards the kitchen.
Raj came down behind her. "I already don't have time for breakfast," he said, coming into the kitchen with his briefcase. He walked over to the table and kissed the top of Lucy's head. "Have a nice day at school, Princess. I'll see you tonight."
"Bye, Uncle Raj," Lucy said.
"Grab a piece of toast on your way out, Raj," Minerva said, holding up the plate towards him so he could grab one. He did, said one last goodbye to all of them, and then ran towards the door. Minerva set the plate back down as Nina came over and sat down at the table as well. "If he woke up on time he would get to actually sit down and eat with us."
"He's always in a rush," Daniel said, picking up a carton of milk and pouring it into his cereal bowl. "Lucy, remember you have ballet today so get off at the right bus stop. Nina will pick you up after class."
"Okay," Lucy said.
"You have your ballet things, right love?" Nina asked.
"Yep."
"Okay, good," Nina said.
They ate their breakfast and then Daniel, Lucy, and Nina headed out. Minerva left a little while later, walking down the drive and Apparating just outside the gates. She arrived on the outskirts of the Hogwarts grounds and walked up to the castle.
Classes began and dragged on endlessly. Their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was nowhere to be found so each professor gave up one of their free periods to teach a Defence class. Minerva got the fourth years right after lunch and was forced to go through the Unforgivable Curses with them. The class was all theoretical thankfully, which meant mostly note taking and only one actual demonstration. Minerva did not feel comfortable demonstrating on a spider but she did it for the sake of the student's education.
After classes ended, she walked up to her office and pulled out some essays she had assigned to begin marking. She hadn't been working for long when she was interrupted by a knocking at her door. She looked up and invited whoever it was inside. The door opened and in walked Albus Dumbledore. His robes swept the ground as he walked and the lack of twinkle in his eyes told Minerva that whatever news he was bringing her could not be good.
"What's happened?" she asked.
"Bernice Elfer is dead," he said sadly, closing the office door behind him and walking over to her desk. "When she didn't come into work today I had some Aurors go sweep her house. She and her entire family were killed by Death Eaters. They lived far from any other cities, surrounded by trees so no one noticed the Dark Mark in the sky."
Minerva put down her quill and leaned back in her seat. That was another Hogwarts professor slaughtered. She felt the tears overflow on her cheeks once again and hid her face behind her hands. Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair as well.
"Unfortunately that's not the only news I bring today," he said.
Minerva looked up quickly. "You can't be serious," she said, wiping her cheeks with her hands and looking up at him with a scared expression on her face. "Who else?"
"Darren Pettigrew."
"Oh no..." she whispered. "How?"
"Hit by a rogue curse during a raid. We can't be sure if he was killed by a Death Eater or an Order member," he replied sadly.
"It must have been a Death Eater, right? No one on our side would be using that kind of curse, right?" she replied. He doesn't respond. "Albus... it... it had to have been, right?"
"I don't know. Minerva," he replied, looking away. Suddenly Minerva knew the answer now too. He was protecting whoever it was that threw the curse and she didn't care. She didn't want to know who it was. She was happier not knowing.
"Does Peter know yet?" she asked instead. She thought of the young nineteen year old and a fresh wave of tears filled her eyes.
Dumbledore nodded. "He is with his mother right now," he said. "The Potters and the others are there now too."
"That poor boy," she whispered, shaking her head. She knew that Peter and his father had always been quite close. "I'll go see him and Candice later today. Maybe... maybe I can help in some way."
He nodded again and finally looked back at her. "We must find a new Defence Professor," he said. "We need someone to take Darren's place on the Hogsmeade patrol and we also need to make more arrangements for the new families that have arrived. Fifteen came today seeking refuge."
"Fifteen!" Minerva exclaimed. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
"Things are escalating," he said. "More villages are being raided, more people displaced, and other countries have yet to begin taking as many refugees as they should be."
"Alright, well, Pomona can handle those arrangements. Space is not an issue yet and if it becomes one we will start outfitting unused classrooms," she continued briskly. She could talk business. It helped her forget. "I'll send word around the Order, hopefully someone will volunteer to take Darren's place. If not, we can assign someone. As for Defence, we can ask some of the refugees. One of them may be willing to lend a hand."
"That is a good idea," Dumbledore said with a nod. "Everyone will take a class tomorrow, the same as they did today. I'll conduct interviews that evening and whoever is best qualified can start on Wednesday. We'll need -"
"I'll send some owls to the Ministry and have the documents drafted," Minerva said. "I'll have them make it the contract for just the end of this year."
"We will get an actual professor then," he said with a nod. "Another thing -"
"What now?" Minerva said with a sigh.
"I fear with this escalation that the target on Hogwarts professors and their families have grown," he said. "Bernice's manor sat in the middle of a forest. They had a lot of protections and yet they were still found. I worry that Collins Mansion may not be as safe as it once was and you going back and forth as you are now will only increase the risk. Have you considered bringing Daniel and Lucy to Hogwarts as well? They will be safer here and you will be able to stay here full time to help with Order and Hogwarts business."
"Is this about their safety or my now limited schedule?" Minerva asked with a frown.
"Both," he replied honestly. "You are more useful here than you are in Rochester. Especially when Raj's presence makes it hard for you to use magic. Moving to Hogwarts would not only mend this issue but would also keep the children safer."
"It's complicated," Minerva said with a sigh. "I would love to bring them here. I agree that they would be safer at Hogwarts but they both have commitments in the Muggle world that neither would be very happy breaking. They would both be leaving their studies for god knows how long and... to be completely honest, they both need a little consistency right now. So much has changed just in the last few weeks for them, staying in Rochester will be more conducive to their recovery than leaving it would. Especially for Lucy."
Dumbledore sighed but nodded. "And you will want to go home every night then as well."
"At least for now," Minerva said with a nod. "They both need to see that I am here to stay and I will not be leaving again."
He nodded again. "Well," he said, "we should look into other options for keeping them safe. I do believe that Collins Mansion is no longer as safe as it should be but if you would still prefer to stay there then we should see what else we can do to make it safer."
"What else can we do?" Minerva asked. "We've already put every enchantment possible on it without making it unplottable."
"I can have Order members patrol the house every so often, just in case," he said. "They will be able to make sure that nothing suspicious is going on."
"Can we expend the wandpower?" Minerva asked.
"I believe we can," Dumbledore said with a nod. "I'm sure James and Sirius would be up for the task. I have not given them a task together in sometime and I'm sure Lily will be happy James isn't doing anything too dangerous now with the baby coming and all."
"You make sure those boys know that they're not supposed to be seen by Lucy or Raj either," Minerva said. "I don't want Lucy to worry and it would be quite hard to explain to Raj what two strange boys are doing on the property. Daniel and Nina know about the war and I can let them know that James and Sirius will be there but Lucy doesn't. She knows something is going on but she doesn't understand what. I don't want her to worry."
"Of course," he replied.
"Oh and make sure they take this seriously," Minerva said with a frown. "I don't want their funny business around at such a critical time."
Dumbledore smiled. "They're not children anymore, Minerva," he said. "I'm sure they'll take this seriously."
"I'm just making sure."
"Of course," he said again.
...
The next day, the Collins Mansion gate opened and closed though no one could be seen walking through. Suddenly, James Potter removed his Invisibility Cloak from is and Sirius Black's head and looked up at the mansion.
"So this is McGonagall's house," Sirius whispered, eyes wide as he looked up at the expansive grey stone manor. "Damn, she's loaded. I didn't know teachers make that much money."
"They don't," James said with a laugh and a shake of his head. "I told Lily about that Collins guy that McGonagall married and she said that he was this huge Muggle businessman. A billionaire, apparently."
"Billionaire? Well, she has good taste then, huh?" Sirius replied with a laugh as they begin walking around the perimeter of the house.
"I wish we could go inside. I'd love to see how big the house actually is," James said. "Maybe when the baby comes, Lily and I will move out of that tiny flat and into a huge house like this one."
"Why would you need a house like this for three people?"
"Why would you need it for four? That's all she has in here," James said defensively. "Or five I guess if you count that guy that stays with them every now and then."
"Why does he do that?" Sirius asked. "What's his name? Raj Patil. Why does he stay with them all the time?"
"McGonagall said that he's been helping them since her husband passed away," James said. "It's pretty nice of him. He was friends with McGonagall's husband. Lily said he's pretty high up in the husband's company too."
"I see," Sirius said as he got closer and craned his neck so he could look through a window. He could see into a dark living room. No one was home yet so all the lights inside were off. "They've got a huge TV."
"Well, you can't splurge on the house and then keep shitty stuff inside it," James said with a smile.
"Oh hey, we've met her kid haven't we," Sirius said.
"Yeah when she was like one or two."
"Do you think she remembers us?"
James laughed. "Nah man, she was one and it was so long ago now. Like five, six years. Besides, we're not allowed to let any of them see us."
"Heard the other kid's a Muggle," Sirius said.
"Yeah, her stepson. Not her real son."
"Cool of her to take care of him still."
"Well, I mean, he is her son now. Even if he is just a stepson," James said with a laugh.
Sirius shrugs. "Not something someone like my mum would do."
James gives him a half smile. "Sorry, I didn't think -"
"Gates opening," Sirius said suddenly. James quickly pulled the Invisibility cloak out again and tossed it on top of the both of them. They walked around to the front and waited to see who came through the gate.
"It's just a car," James whispered as a sleek black car came in through the gate and up the driveway. "I don't think Death Eaters drive."
"Should we follow them inside?" Sirius asked, giving James a mischievous smile. "Get that look around the inside like you wanted."
"I don't think that's a good idea," James said with a laugh, though they walk closer to the front door.
"- and then when she looked up there was a giant plastic spider on her desk and she completely freaked out!" Lucy told Nina as they get out of the car and start walking to the front door.
Nina laughed. "What did she do?"
"She screamed and flung it across the room with a piece of paper," Lucy replied with a laugh. "I've never seen anyone that scared before! The teacher was so mad! He told her that that was an overreaction and that she needed to pick up the plastic spider and apologize!"
"Did they find out it was you and Anne who pulled the prank?"
"Nope!" Lucy said excitedly. "Nobody knows."
"Wow, Lucy," Nina said with a smile and a shake of her head. They reached the front door and she pulled out her key. She unlocked the door and opened it for Lucy to go in. She was about to go in too when the keys slipped out of her hands. "Oops."
As she reached for them, door still wide open, Sirius grabbed James's arm and pulled him through the open door. James tried to stop him and pull him back outside but before he could Nina had walked through the door and closed it behind her. He gave Sirius an angry look but Sirius just smiled.
"Alright," Nina said as she took off her shoes and coat. "You go get changed and I'll find something for us to eat."
"Okay," Lucy said. "What are we going to have for dinner tonight?"
"Hmm, I was thinking we could just order a pizza or something," Nina said. "I don't really feel like cooking but we'll see what Uncle Raj, Minerva and Daniel think first."
"Okay," Lucy said again before running up the stairs. Nina walks through an archway to the kitchen.
"Now what, you idiot!" James whispered.
"We could follow one of them and pretend to be a ghost," Sirius said with a laugh. "That'd be fun."
"Come on, we're going back outside," James said. "How are we supposed to guard the house if we're inside?"
"Aw, come on. Can't we at least take a look around first?" Sirius asked. "I want to find Minerva's room."
"Since when do you call her Minerva?"
"Well, I mean if that kid can call her Minerva I think I can too."
"I think I'll just keep calling her Professor McGonagall," James mumbled. "Minerva feels weird."
Sirius laughed. He led James up the stairs. They looked at the pictures on the walls and the décor.
"It's a nice house on the inside too," James whispered. "But it's so big, how are we going to find McGonagall's room?"
"Trial and error?" Sirius suggested.
"Without letting anyone know we're here?"
"Very quiet trial and error?"
James rolled his eyes. He walked with Sirius towards the first door. Before Sirius could open it though, James stops him. "We should wait till Lucy goes downstairs," he said. "She's probably in one of these rooms and it'll probably scare her if the door to her room opens randomly out of nowhere."
"Good call," Sirius said. "See this is why you're the smart one."
"If I was smart I wouldn't have let you talk me into being in here in the first place," James mumbled with a shake of his head.
Sirius smiled. "Hey, you know you love it."
"I wish Remus was here. He's the real smart one," James smiled. "I'm just trying to be a little more serious, Sirius."
"Serious is not a good look on you, James," Sirius replied with a smile. "You should leave it to me."
James shook his head though he was still smiling. "I'm just saying that with everything going on we should really think about putting our goofy sides on hold for a bit," he said with a sigh. "At least until after the war is over, you know. I mean what if we're goofing off up here while Death Eaters are on their way to capture these people to get to McGonagall and Dumbledore."
"I guess you're right," Sirius conceded. "I mean, what if McGonagall comes and finds us here herself! I'm a lot more scared of her then of Death Eaters."
"Well, I guess that's something," James said with a laugh. "So we should go, right?"
"Yes, we should find McGonagall's room, look around a bit and then go and put our goofy sides on hold for a bit," Sirius said.
"Not what I -"
A door opened and Lucy walked out into the hallway. She had changed out of her school uniform and was humming to herself quietly as she walked through the hallway and down the stairs. James and Sirius held their breath as they watched her walk towards the kitchen. When she was finally out of earshot Sirius said, "Well, we know it's definitely not that one."
"Great, we've eliminated one out of like what twenty?"
"I think there's less than twenty rooms," Sirius said with a smile. He moved over to the first door and opened it up. They go through room after room finding guest bedrooms and closets and a bathroom but no master bedroom. Finally they found it on the other side of the hallway across from Lucy's bedroom. "Jackpot!"
"Don't touch anything," James whispered. "I am a hundred percent sure that if something is even a millimetre off she's going to know."
Sirius ignored him, walked out from under the Invisibility cloak into the room and looked around. There wasn't really much to see in the open. McGonagall's room was extremely clean, something Sirius had assumed would be true just by knowing his old teacher. He went to the bedside table. There was a framed family photo sitting on it. He picked it up and showed James, who was also out of the cloak now.
"Cute, huh?" Sirius asked with a laugh.
James rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't be touching that."
"This Jay Collins guy doesn't look that bad. I don't know. He doesn't look how I expected."
"What did you expect?"
"I don't know. No one that good looking, I guess."
James laughed and shook his head. "You're an idiot, you know that," he said as Sirius began rummaging through the bedside drawer. "What exactly is it you're looking for?"
"I don't know," Sirius said. He dug through the drawer before finding and pulling out a black leather book. He smiled. "Finally something interesting!"
"Don't read her journal, Sirius!" James said. "I know we're snooping around her bedroom but we have to leave some things private, right?"
"Calm down, Prongs," he said, opening up the book. He read the date on the first page and frowned. "That doesn't look like McGonagall's writing. I should know. I got a lot of detention slips written by her."
"Whose is it then?" James asked, moving over so he could get a better look. "And why does she have it?"
"I don't know," he said. "Look there's a drawing of a little boy. You think that's Daniel?"
Sirius turned it so James could see the drawing of a little eight year old boy playing the piano. "I don't know," he said. "Hard to tell. I don't know what Daniel looked like then."
Sirius flipped through some more pages before smiling and turning it around again. James saw four drawings of Minerva's head, each with a different expression. One was looking away with her fingers going through her hair, another looked very deep in thought, another with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face, and the last one was laughing.
"July fourth 1987," James read aloud. "A dreary day that only felt like it was going to get drearier. With Daniel tucked away in bed at the hotel I decide to go across the street for a drink. Nothing special, just a quiet bar with bad lighting and worse food. I did not expect much but when I opened the door, I immediately locked eyes with the most beautiful woman I have ever met. Minerva McGonagall, she said, a teacher, no kids, married once before. Her blue eyes, her silky hair, her red lips, they were all perfect, but the most beautiful thing about her was the way she wore loss. We've both known loss but, while I hide it deep under the skin, she wore it out in the open and she made it beautiful."
"Wow," Sirius whispered. "This must have been her husband's journal."
"He really loved her," James said, taking the book from him and flipping through some more pages. Sirius came up beside him so he could see as well. They saw a sketch of Minerva in a wedding dress. August 4th, 1989was written on the top of the page. Jay had written all about the wedding. On the next page he had drawn a picture of his son, ten years old, in a nice suit holding rings.
"He was quite the artist," Sirius said.
"He was," James said. "Look. That must be Lucy."
Jay had drawn a baby crawling after a cat. The baby looked very happy.
"That's cute," Sirius said with a laugh. "Lucy used to play with her mum in cat form."
They looked at a couple more pictures before James closed the book and handed it back to Sirius. Sirius put it back in the drawer and opened the next one to see what was in there. James sat down on the bed with a sigh. Jay Collins seemed like a really nice man and a great father. It must have been very hard on all of them to lose him.
"Gross! Condoms!"
James looked up at his friend and laughed. "Well she had a kid. That means she had to do it at least once."
"Gross," Sirius said. "I don't want to think about that." He closed the drawer and stood up again. "Hmm... Oh I know, the medicine cabinet!"
James sighed and walked over to the window overlooking the front yard while Sirius made his way to the bathroom. He looked over the yard and saw nothing but snow. He wondered when Minerva was planning on coming home. He thought about how hard it must be to leave your children home alone while you dealt with a war they wouldn't understand. He hoped that the war would be over soon so that he wouldn't have to worry about that kind of thing once his baby was born.
"Nothing embarrassing in the medicine cabinet," Sirius said coming back into the room. "But there was a bunch of men's clothes in the closet."
"Probably her husband's," James said, turning around and looking at Sirius. "They probably haven't had a chance to get rid of it yet."
"When did he die?" Sirius asked.
"A month ago, I think."
"Sucks, man."
"Yeah," James said. "We should probably get out of here."
Sirius agreed and walked over to him so they could both get back under the Invisibility Cloak. They slowly opened the bedroom door and looked around quickly to make sure no one was there before moving out into the hallway and closing the door behind them. They slowly and quietly walk down the hallway and down the stairs but before they reached the bottom, the front door opened and they froze. In walked a tall man with darker skin and brown eye. James assumed this was Raj Patil. They heard footsteps running in from the kitchen. Lucy came out and raced over to him.
"Uncle Raj! Uncle Raj!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Hello, Princess," Raj said with a smile, picking her up and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "How was your day at school?"
"It was okay," she said. "How come you're home so early?"
"I got off early, can you believe that?" he said with a laugh. "That barely ever happens."
"Yeah!" Lucy said. "You beat Daniel and Mum home!"
Raj smiled. "Well, why don't we celebrate by playing out in the snow outside? What do you think?"
"Okay!" Lucy said excitedly.
"Let me go get changed first and put this stuff away and then we'll go," he said, setting her down.
She nodded and he went to walk up the stairs. James pulled Sirius up against the handrail quickly before Raj could bump into one of them. Once he went by Sirius and James slowly began walking down the stairs again. They waited for Lucy to leave so they could get out of the house but she was putting on her coat now.
"She's not leaving!" Sirius whispered.
"Shh."
"Nina! Uncle Raj and I are going to play outside!" Lucy called towards the kitchen as she sat down and pulled her boots on.
"Okay, love," Nina called back. "Don't forget to put on your hat and mittens!"
James slowly came down the last step and moved away from the stairs. It was too dangerous for them to wait there when Raj was going to be coming down soon.
"Okay!" Lucy yelled, picking up her hat and putting it on top of her head.
"James, what are we going to -"
James quickly covered Sirius's mouth as Lucy turned towards them quickly. She looked around but saw nothing. Lucy frowned and walked forward a little. James and Sirius walked backwards away from her.
"Hello?" she asked. "Daniel, are you here? Are you trying to play a trick on me?"
James and Sirius held their breath as she walked even closer to them. They were up against the wall now with nowhere to go. Before Lucy could touch them though, Raj came down the stairs again and looked over at her.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Nothing," Lucy said, running back over to him. "I think I'm hearing things."
Raj smiled. "You think that house is haunted?"
"It's the ghost of that used to live under my bed!" Lucy exclaimed dramatically making Raj laugh. She smiled and shook her head. "No, he still lives under my bed. He's a nice ghost though."
"Is he?" Raj asked as he put on his coat. He handed Lucy her mittens and she put them on.
"Yes," Lucy said with a nod. "I named him Boo. He's a little kid ghost."
"I see," Raj said with a smile, putting on his shoes and opening the door. "Shall we go?"
Lucy nodded and walked out into the cold outside. Raj smiled and followed after her. When the door closed James smacked Sirius's arm.
"You're an idiot," he said quietly as he walked back towards the door. "We'll wait a few minutes for them to walk around to the back and then go."
Sirius nodded. He smiled stupidly and said, "that was pretty fun, though. You have to admit."
James rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You're hopeless."
They waited a little while and then James opened the door quietly. He looked around and saw nothing so led Sirius out of the house and closed the door gently behind them. They walked down the steps and start walking around the house when they see the gate open again and another car come in. The car pulled up to the front of the house and this time Minerva and Daniel got out. They waited by the door for Daniel and Minerva to walk by up the steps.
"Pssst."
Minerva turned back with a frown and Daniel stopped walking too. He looked at her with a frown. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I - oh, James, Sirius, is that you?" she said a little exasperatedly.
Sirius took the Invisibility Cloak off the top of his head while still keeping it over his body to make it look like his head was floating in space. Daniel's eyes went wide before he laughed.
"Wow!" he said, walking back down the steps again and standing beside his stepmother.
"Sirius Black," he said, sticking his hand out of the cloak too so now he was a floating head and hand.
"Daniel Collins," Daniel said with a smile, shaking Sirius's hand. "It's nice to meet you."
James comes out of the cloak as well and smiled at Daniel. "James Potter," he said. "It's nice to finally meet you, Daniel."
"It's nice to finally meet you both as well," Daniel said. "I've just heard a lot of complaining about you."
"Really?" James said with a laugh.
"Ahh, you complained about us to your family, Professor?" Sirius said. "I feel so honoured!"
"What are you two doing?" Minerva said with a frown. "You're supposed to be guarding the house and keeping an eye on the others. Not talking to us."
"We are watching out for everyone," James said. "Nina's in the kitchen and Lucy and Mr. Patil are playing in the backyard."
"Uncle Raj is home already?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah, said he got off work early," Sirius said.
Minerva didn't like that James and Sirius could hear everything that went on in the house from out here. So much for her and her family's privacy. She supposed she had to give up some if it in order to keep them safe.
"Well," she said, "you should be careful then if they're outside. They might hear you or see you. You're not supposed to be seen, remember?"
"We'll be careful, don't worry," James said.
"How come Mr. Patil doesn't know about magic but everyone else does?" Sirius asked.
"That is not your concern," Minerva said, turning around and walking back up towards the door. "Get back under the cloak and be careful. Don't blow your cover on the very first day."
Daniel looked up at Minerva and then back at the boys with a smile. "Thanks for doing this," he said. "I appreciate you keeping us safe."
"Of course," James said with a smile. "We'd do anything for our favourite teacher and her family."
"Do you think Lucy remembers us?" Sirius asked.
"I don't think so," Daniel said with a shake of his head. "She was pretty young when you guys met. She still has that cat that you gave her though."
"Really?" Sirius asked brightly. "That's awesome!"
"Yeah," Daniel said. "Well, I should get going. Thanks again."
"No problemo," Sirius said.
"See you, Daniel," James said.
They got back under the cloak and watched Daniel disappear inside. Sirius turned back to James. "He's really nice."
"He is," James said. "Now, come on. Let's get serious."
"But I'm right here," Sirius said annoyingly.
James sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot."
Back inside Daniel took his coat and shoes off and looked over at Minerva who had been waiting for him. She was looking out the window to make sure James and Sirius were back under the Invisibility Cloak.
"They seem nice," he said. "Don't know why you're complaint about them all the time."
"You'll learn soon enough, I'm sure," Minerva muttered, fixing the curtain and turning around.
Daniel laughed and shook his head. "They did bring up a good point though," he said. "Why don't we just tell Uncle Raj about magic? You know how much easier that would make our lives? Then he'd actually understand why you were gone for so long and you guys wouldn't be so awkward around each other anymore."
"We aren't awkward around each other," Minerva said with a frown.
"Sure," Daniel said sarcastically. "Not at all."
"We're not," Minerva said. "Besides, I don't know if even that would help. I think it might be best to just leave it as it is."
Daniel sighed. "Fine but when ultimately Lucy let's it slip to him, because she is obviously going to do that at some point, it's just a matter of time," he said. "And things get better, I won't hold back my 'I told you so'."
"I would never expect you too," Minerva said with a smile, following him towards the kitchen. "It's a shame that Lucy's brother has so little faith in her."
"Lucy was the one who told Nina," Daniel said with a laugh. "Literally the first day they spent just the two of them together."
Minerva paused for a second. "All right, so you may be right," she said with a shake of her head. "If it happens and things don't get better, don't expect me to hold back my 'I told you so' either."
"I would never," he said with a laugh.
Saturday, January 10th 1998
Lucy sat at the kitchen table, kicking her feet back and forth, waiting. Raj and Minerva were sitting at the table as well. Raj was reading the morning newspaper and Minerva was reading a book. Daniel and Nina had gone out and would be out for the day. They were taking full advantage of Minerva and Raj being at home to look after Lucy. With Jay in the hospital and Daniel having to drive himself and Lucy up to London to see him every day, he and Nina had not gotten much of a chance to go out on very many dates.
Raj looked over at Lucy and smiled. He looked down at his watch and said, "it won't be too long now, love. She should be here soon."
"I'm so bored!" Lucy said with a sigh, putting her head down in her arms. "Where is she? She's late!"
Minerva looked up from her book and smiled as well. "Lucy, it's only been five minutes," she said. "Give it time."
Lucy sighed and got up. "I'm going to -"
Just then the doorbell rang. Lucy turned and ran to the door immediately. Raj laughed and shook his head. Lucy raced up to the front door and swung it open. Standing in front of it was a tall, skinny girl with blonde hair, blue eyes and a lot of freckles.
"Hey, Anne!" Lucy said with a smile.
"Hey, Lucy," Anne Linwood said, walking into the house. She turned around and waved at her mother before the car in the driveway drove away. She closed the door and turned back to Lucy. "So, what's up?"
"Not much. We got back from Scotland a couple days ago," Lucy said as Anne took off her shoes and coat.
"How was that?" she asked, looking up at her friend with a concerned look on her face.
"It was good, actually," Lucy said with a smile. "I really missed everyone. My grandmother even promised to call almost every day so we can talk all the time. She bought a phone for herself."
"She didn't have a phone?" Anne said. "That's weird."
"Yeah, but she has one now," Lucy said. "So now we can call her and she can call us."
"That's nice," Anne said. "I told you the trip would go well. And you were worried. You should really listen to me more."
"Oh my god," Lucy muttered, rolling her eyes. "So, how was your Christmas?"
"It was good. Oh, hey, I brought your Christmas present," Anne said, taking off her backpack and pulling out a box wrapped in red paper. She hands it over to Lucy. "Merry Christmas!"
"Thanks!" Lucy said, taking the gift from her friends. "Come on, your present is upstairs in my room. Uncle Raj and my mum are in the kitchen if you want to say hi."
Anne nodded and Lucy led the way to the kitchen. Raj and Minerva were still sitting at the kitchen table ignoring each other.
"Anne's here," Lucy said.
Raj looked up and smiled. "Hello, Anne," he said. "How are you doing?"
"Hello, Mr. Patil. I'm good," Anne said. "How was your Christmas?"
"It was good," Raj said. "Yourself?"
"It was good. We went up to my Grandmother's house in Brighton," Anne said. "It snowed so much there."
Minerva smiled. "Hello, Miss Linwood," she said, sticking her hand out for Anne to shake. "I'm Minerva McGonagall, Lucy's mother."
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. McGonagall," Anne said with a polite smile, walking over and shaking her hand.
"You as well," Minerva said with a smile.
"Anne and I are going to go hang out in my room," Lucy said.
Minerva nod. "Alright, have fun."
She watched the two girls run out of the kitchen and then turned back to Raj. "I've been speaking with Nina," she said. "About how Lucy is doing in school."
"Perfect grades," Raj said, picking his newspaper back up and disappearing behind it yet again.
"No, I mean with the other children," Minerva said. Raj lowered his paper and a frown appeared on his face but he didn't say anything. "Nina has told me that she hasn't really been getting along with some of the other girls at school and she only ever talks about one friend. I'm worried about her."
Raj sighed and folded up his newspaper, sitting up straighter in his seat. "I don't know much," he said. "All I know is second hand from what Lucy's told Nina which isn't much but apparently there is a group of girls who are not very nice to her. They make fun of her for being so much younger than everyone else and stuff like that."
Minerva sighed too. "Have you talked to the school?"
"Of course," Raj said with a nod. "I've talked to the administration and to Lucy's homeroom teacher directly but they don't do much. You probably have a better understanding of student-teacher politics than I do."
"Maybe I'll try talking to her."
"You can try. She doesn't like talking about it to anyone except for Anne," Raj said. "Sometimes Nina but that's not that much either."
"Of course she talks to Nina about it," Minerva muttered.
Raj frowned, crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Are you jealous of Nina?"
"What? Of course not."
"Really?" Raj said with a raised eyebrow. "So you it doesn't affect you when Lucy runs to Nina first before going to you? That she asks Nina for help when she needs it. That she goes to Nina and Daniel's bedroom at night when she has a nightmare instead of yours."
"She goes to their bedroom at night?" Minerva asked with a frown.
Raj closed his eyes and nodded. "Every single night," he said. "Still having nightmares."
"I - I didn't know that," Minerva said softly. "I knew that Nina stayed in her room when we were in Castletown but I thought that was just because she was a little scared to be up in Scotland after so long. I didn't know that she was having nightmares."
"She talks to Nina about them," Raj said. "She said that they mostly involve Jay in the hospital."
Minerva sighed again and looked down. She didn't know what to say. "I can talk to her about it too."
"You can try. She doesn't even talk to Daniel about it," he said. "Nina's a good kid and she and Lucy have gotten very close over these last few months. There is no doubt in my mind that even if it didn't work out between her and Daniel, she would still come here to see Lucy all the time. Don't take out your frustration about your relationship with Lucy on her."
"I would never," Minerva said with a frown. "Have I ever done anything to indicate that I don't appreciate everything Nina has done?"
"No, but I see the way you look at them when she does something for Lucy that you feel you should be doing," Raj said.
Minerva crossed her arms and looked away from him. "You are a great man, Raj," she said. "Again, I appreciate everything you've done for us but... but sometimes you can be a real asshole."
Raj couldn't help but smile a little bit. He shook his head and got up. "It's odd hearing words like that coming from your mouth."
"And why's that?" Minerva asked.
"I don't know," he said. "Are you going to get lunch or shall I?"
"I'll do it. I know you have work to get done."
"I'll be in the office," Raj said, walking out of the kitchen.
Minerva sighed and shook her head again. She got up and walked towards the kitchen to get started on lunch. She walked to the sink to wash her hands when suddenly two heads appears in the window over the sink. Minerva jumped and put her hand over her heart. She shook her head and opened the window.
"Are you two trying to give me a heart attack?" she asked, looking around quickly to make sure she was alone in the kitchen.
"Sorry, Professor," James said with a laugh. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"Thought you might like an update," Sirius said. "So far nothing."
Minerva rolled her eyes. "You know, you two are very bad at being inconspicuous," she muttered. They just smiled stupidly up at her. She shook her head at them. "How's Peter doing?"
James sighed. "He's avoiding us right now."
"Doesn't want to talk to anyone but his mother," Sirius replied. "We're giving him some space."
Minerva nodded. "That's probably a good idea."
There was silence for a while before Sirius decided to change the subject. "So there's a friend," he said with a small smile. "Is she a Muggle?"
"Yes," Minerva said. "She is."
"She looks a lot older than Lucy," James said.
"Lucy's been bumped up in school. She took a placement test and ranked five years higher than she should be," Minerva said, leaning on the window sill. The cool January air made the hairs on her arms stand on end. "so a lot of her friends are five years older than her."
"Wow," Sirius said. "Smart kid."
"She's McGonagall's daughter, what did you expect?" James said with a laugh. "Oh man, the other day we saw her doing like a lot of magic. It looked like she was practicing in the living room, making books move around and stuff."
"Without a wand and everything," Sirius said.
"Yes, her magic is very strong it seems," Minerva replied with a nod.
"Strong magic and super smart. That's a dangerous combination," James said with a smile. "Something tells me that she's going to be quite the troublemaker when she starts at Hogwarts."
Minerva smiled a little. Sirius smirked. "That could be bad for us. She may overthrow us as the prank kings of Hogwarts."
"I don't think that's possible," Minerva replied with a smile. "Besides, Lucy is very well behaved. I doubt that Hogwarts will change that."
"I don't know, Professor," James said with a laugh. "That's what my parents thought too. Then they started receiving letters from you almost every week telling them how not well behaved I was."
"Oh man, that's going to suck for her. Her mother's going to be at Hogwarts too!" Sirius exclaimed. "She won't get the same sort of freedom we got."
"Aw, poor kid," James said.
Minerva rolled her eyes. "I doubt it'll be a problem."
"Don't you think it'll be weird having your own kid in your class?" James asked.
"What if you have to give her a failing grade?" Sirius said. "That would make family dinners pretty awkward."
"I don't think that I would ever have to give Lucy a failing grade. I think she is incapable of receiving one," Minerva retorted.
"Well, every parent thinks their kid is perfect in every way," James said with a laugh.
"She is five years ahead of the rest of the kids her age, though James," Sirius said. "Maybe she is incapable of getting a failing grade."
"Well, my kid's definitely going to be a troublemaker so I'd watch out, Professor," James said.
"I will personally teach him everything I know," Sirius said with a laugh.
"Oh no," Minerva muttered. "I thought I was rid of your brand of havoc now."
"You will never be rid of us," Sirius said.
"We'll be here constantly for your havoc wreaking pleasure," James said.
Minerva rolled her eyes. "Alright well, why don't you two actually get back to your job and I will get back to mine," she muttered, reaching up to close the window.
"Alright, bye Professor," James said with a smile.
"Bye, McGee," Sirius said with a laugh.
Minerva didn't bother responding. She closed the window and watched the boys pull the Invisibility Cloak over their heads before turning to make lunch for herself, Raj, and the girls.
...
The doorbell rang. Minerva got up from her seat at the kitchen table and walked towards the front door. She opened it up to find a woman with blond hair and blue eyes smiling at her.
"Hello, I'm Lisa Linwood," she said, sticking her hand out for Minerva to shake. "You must be Lucy's mother. Anne told me that you were back."
Minerva smiled and shook Lisa's hand. "Hi, yes. I'm Minerva McGonagall," she said. "It's nice to meet you."
"You as well. I suppose the girls are too busy having fun to notice that I'm here," Lisa said with a smile, looking passed Minerva and up the stairs.
"That seems likely," Minerva replied. "Why don't you come in for tea? Give them a little more time to play."
"No, that's not necess-"
"Oh, it's alright. I insist. Please come in," Minerva said, motioning her into the house.
Lisa smiled and walked in. She took off her boots and coat before following Minerva into the kitchen. She sat down while Minerva made tea for the both of them.
"Is Raj here?"
"Yes," Minerva said with a nod. "He's in the office. Had some work to get done."
"Always working," Lisa said. "That man never stops. He's either working for Collins Enterprises or taking care of the children."
"Yes," Minerva said. "He has done a lot for us, I must say. He's handling all the business stuff for us. It helps not to have to think about it. It's all so complicated. "
"I can imagine," she said. "So, you're a teacher?"
"Yes, I teach physics," Minerva said. Lisa nodded. "Do you work?"
"No, I'm just at home," she replied. Minerva walked over to the table and held out a cup for Lisa. She took it and smiled. "Thank you."
"Not a problem," Minerva said. She sat down and sighed. "Daniel told me that you helped them out a lot while my husband was in the hospital and I was unavailable as well. Thank you for everything you did for my family."
Lisa smiled. "Oh, it's no problem at all," she said, taking a sip of her tea. "They are both great kids. Daniel took very good care of Lucy while Jay was in hospital. He and Raj did everything. I just helped out whenever I could."
"Still, I appreciate it," Minerva replied. "Anne is a very nice young woman as well. Very polite and well behaved."
"Thank you," Lisa said with a smile. "Honestly, that girl is only like that when she's out of the house. At home, she is... not."
Minerva laughed. "Lucy is the same."
"They are very similar. Even with the age difference. When she first told me about Lucy, I will admit that I was a little worried about her. A five year old girl thrown in with a bunch of ten year olds but she seems to hold her own very well. You must be very proud."
"I am," Minerva said with a smile. "I always knew that Lucy was quite smart for her age. She would remember everything and used to copy the words on Jay's work papers into her notebook."
"She's quite special," Lisa agreed with a smile. "Anne told me about her winning that award for her essay two months ago."
"Oh? She didn't tell me about that."
"She didn't? They had to write a short little essay about Pre-Roman Britain and their teacher was very happy with Lucy's. She had her submit it for a contest and she won," Lisa said. "She got a small plaque and I think one hundred and fifty pounds. Probably not really much for you all but still quite impressive."
"Wow, yes that is quite impressive," Minerva said. "I'll ask her about it."
"I think her self-esteem took quite a hit a while ago," Lisa said sadly. "Like I said, she was still a five year old girl thrown in with a bunch of ten year olds. She had some problems with some of the other girls but she was able to deal with them before. Then Jay got admitted to the hospital and... I don't know. She hasn't really been the same."
Minerva frowned. "I've been told over and over about these other girls," she said. "Who are they and what are they saying?"
"I don't know. You know kids. They don't tell their parents these things. I only know bits and pieces that I've managed to get out of Anne," she replied. She sighed and shook her head. "Well, I'm sure now that you're back things will go back to normal soon enough."
"Hmm," Minerva mumbled, not very convinced and still quite worried about her daughter. She wondered if maybe she should go down to that school herself and see what she could do.
Just then footsteps could be heard running down the stairs towards the kitchen. Lucy and Anne ran into the kitchen. Anne saw her mother and smiled.
"Oh, hey Mum!"
"Hello, Mrs. Linwood."
"Hello, Anne. Hello, Lucy. How was your day?" Lisa said with a smile.
"It was good," Anne said, walking over to her mother. "We played some games and just hung out in Lucy's room."
"I beat Anne at checkers," Lucy said with a smile.
"I still think you cheated."
"You always say that when I win."
"Okay... maybe I just suck at checker," Anne replied with a laugh.
Minerva and Lisa laughed. Lisa finished her tea and stood up. "Well, Minerva. Thank you for the tea but we should really get going," she said. "Maybe you and the others could come over for dinner sometime next weekend. We would love to have you."
Minerva stood up too and smiled. "That would be lovely."
"Wonderful," Lisa said with a smile. "I'll give you a call later and iron out the details. Anne say goodbye and put on your coat."
Minerva and Lucy walked Anne and Lisa to the front door. They said their goodbyes and walked out into the cold. Minerva closed the door behind them and turned around to look at Lucy.
"Did you have fun?"
"Yep!" Lucy said, turning to walk back to the kitchen. Minerva followed her. "I always have fun when Anne's around."
Minerva smiled. "Well, Mrs. Linwood told me that you won an award for an essay you wrote a little while ago. How come you didn't tell me?"
Lucy shrugged. "It's not that important."
"I think it's important," Minerva said as they made it back to the kitchen and sat down at the table. "I would love to read your essay. Do you still have it?"
Lucy nodded. "It's upstairs in my desk somewhere," she said. "I can find it for you if you want but it's pretty boring. I don't think you'd want to read it."
"I would like to read it. I want to see what essay won you a hundred fifty pounds," Minerva said with a smile.
"Okay," Lucy said.
"What did you spend the money on?"
"I haven't spent any of it. It's in my piggybank upstairs."
"Wow, you're good at saving," Minerva said with a smile. "That's a good skill to have. What exactly are you saving for?"
"I don't know," Lucy said with a shrug.
"Well, it's still good to save," Minerva said. "Ah, so... Lucy, I know that you're having nightmares and going into Nina and Daniel's room at night."
Lucy cheeks went a little red and she looked down quickly. She was embarrassed. She was six years old. She wasn't supposed to need someone else with her to get to sleep. She should be sleeping on her own like a big girl.
"It's okay," Minerva said. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I just thought you might want to talk about it. It might help."
Lucy shook her head. She really did not want to talk about it at all.
Just then Raj walked into the kitchen and saw them sitting at the table. He smiled at Lucy as he walked towards the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. "Did Anne leave?"
"Yeah, her mum picked her up," Lucy said, looking back at him.
"Did you guys have fun?"
"Yep," Lucy said. "I like when Anne comes over. She's very fun."
Raj smiled. "Well, I was thinking," he said. "I know it's my turn to make dinner but why don't we just go out for dinner today when Daniel and Nina get back."
"Okay!" Lucy said.
"If you don't want to cook, Raj, you can always just say so," Minerva said with a small smile.
"Eh, this is my way of making up for not wanting to cook. Besides Brettington's has a lot better food than I could possibly make," he said, taking a sip of his coffee and making a face. He grabbed some sugar and added it to the mug.
"Uncle Raj," Lucy said, "did you know that a city in America tried to make snow illegal in 1992?"
"I did not know that," Raj said, walking around the counter and coming over to sit down at the table.
"Really?" Minerva said with a smile.
"Yes, Syracuse. It's one of America's snowiest major cities and so they tried to control it by passing a decree that made illegal for it to snow anymore before Christmas Eve but then it snowed only two days later," Lucy said with a smile, turning back to look at Minerva. "I guess Mother Nature didn't care about the law."
"Wow, that is -"
"Stupid?"
"Very stupid," Minerva said with a laugh. She smiled and shook her head. "Are you sure that it's true?"
Lucy nodded. "I read it in a book about weird laws," she said.
"What other laws did you read about?" Raj asked.
"In a city called Mobile in Alabama, it's illegal to throw confetti or spray silly string," Lucy said with a smile.
"Well, I kind of agree with that one," Minerva said. "Very messy."
Lucy laughed.
"But it's fun," Raj said with a stupid smile.
Minerva shrugged and Lucy shook her head. "In Thailand it's illegal to step on money and in Singapore it's illegal to chew gum and here in Britain it's illegal to handle salmon in suspicious circumstance!"
Raj laughed. "Suspicious circumstance?"
"It sounds really funny but it was actually to stop illegal salmon poaching. They made it illegal to buy salmon that is believed or could reasonably be believed to have been illegally fished," Lucy said with a smile. "I looked it up after I read it because I wanted to know what they meant by suspicious circumstance too."
Raj smiled and nodded. "I see."
"It's also illegal in England to die in the House of Parliament but I'm pretty sure if you did you probably wouldn't get in trouble."
"No," Minerva said with a laugh. She shook her head and stood up, walking towards the kitchen door. "Alright, that's enough silly laws. Nina and Daniel will be home soon. Why don't we get ready to leave for the restaurant?"
"Okay," Lucy said with a smile. She stood up too and quickly scurried over to Minerva. She took her hand and followed her mother out of the kitchen.