"It's tuesday," Rose muttered angrily under her breath. She'd only seen Albus for three weeks and a week from Christmas, her entire family decided to find out she was alive. "I suppose now I'll have to buy them Christmas presents."

"Mrs. Malfoy!" yelled a voice as she exited the floo. She turned to see a stressed Beatrice running down the hall, her brown hair falling out of it's bun.

"Are the contractors here?" Rose asked her when she caught up. Beatrice held out a cup to Rose. "What is it?" Rose asked confused staring at the mug as they continued to walk towards her office.

"My boyfriend had me over to watch muggle cinema on his 'fellyvision'? I'm not sure I think he nicknamed it 'felly'?"

"Beatrice."

"Right. The contractors arrived a few minutes ago, they're measuring stuff in the conference room. You have four memos and a personal letter and the assistant in the felly show brought her boss a coffee every morning. I thought you might like tea better."

"Thanks for your thoughtfulness. Is it sweetened?"

"No. It's English Breakfast tea."

"Who's the letter from?"

"A healer at St. Mungos."

"What does it say?"

"I didn't open it."

"Alright. Take my coat and bag and hang them up in my office. Bring me the letter and I'll meet you in the conference room in a few minutes." she handed Beatrice her jacket and purse and grabbed the tea from her hands before turning around and walking towards the conference room.

There she met with the contractors who had already disassembled the conference room's table, and chalkboard.

"Hello Miss." a chubby man in dreadful orange robes announced. "Are you the head?"

"I am. Did you get the plans I sent you?"

"The supervisor sent them over with us." he furrowed his brow "Can I ask why you want to get rid of the chalkboard?"

"I'm getting a projector."

"A what?"

"It doesn't matter. You are here to tear these walls down and replace them with the special glass and then install the furniture I ordered. Do you know when it will be coming in?"

"The tetra-glass should be in later today and we'll install it tomorrow. After the holidays, the furniture should be in and it will be installed. I understand there's no one here during the holidays?"

"Yes, the entire office is closed for that time between Christmas and New Years. Many of the parents in the office may want to stay at home with their Hogwarts aged children."

"Alright! That's it then."

"Not quite. This department has specific qualifications and I'm certain you received those declaration forms. Before anything past the furniture begins I need those." Rose crossed her arms and waited for a response. Beatrice walked in and handed Rose the letter.

"Yeah, I think they were sent this morning." Rose left the men to their work and followed Beatrice out of the room. She peered at the letter, it was addressed from the trauma centre at St. Mungo's so it had to be from Victoire.

"Also," added Beatrice now that they were out of the conference room "This came in from with a note from 'Albus'. I think it's about your family." Rose glanced down at the Daily Prophet that Beatrice was holding, on the cover was the title 'Infamous Quidditch Star James Potter welcomes second child with famed journalist wife Cassidy Thorpe!'. Rose tore open the letter from St. Mungo's. It was written in Victoire's curly scrawl.

Dear, Rose

I hope that this letter reaches you prior to news from the prophet. Our dear cousin, James, and his wife, have welcomed a child. A little boy. They haven't decided what they'll name him yet, but obviously, Addie is overjoyed. I hope to hear from you soon. Don't be a stranger!

With Love,

Victoire

Rose grinned down at the paper in her hands. Her once annoying and insufferable cousin was all grown up and now had two children on his hands. She resolved to write to Albus and congratulate him on his new nephew.

"He's adorable!" cried out Roxanne, her pregnant belly pushing the others out of the way. Cassidy grinned down at her new child. James ran around them with their daughter, Addison, in one arm and a camera in the other. "Do you have any names in mind?"

"A few. We were thinking about William, Arthur, Noah, a few more. We haven't decided yet."

"Well. Addie's name wasn't decided for a week after you guys had her. I'm surprised you didn't give her seven middle names." Roxanne's husband Sean pointed out. Their seven year old daughter was running around in the hallway with other family member's children.

At that moment, James and Roxane's cousin, Molly, came in. Her hair was short and she looked astutely out into the hallway, checking on her Hogwarts-aged daughters.

"I have news!" she announced in a hushed voice, everyone seemed to straighten, bracing themselves for the news to come.

"Well don't leave us hanging!" groaned James as she seemed to check once again that no one else was listening.

"I think Rose is back!"

"What?" there was a chorus of yells from the adults in the room, the baby began crying from the noise.

"Yes. I was talking to Thompson from the Department of Mysteries and he says they have a new head. He's been banned from saying anything, but you know Thompson. He found a way of telling me without actually telling me."

"So you think she's the new head?" Cassidy asked from the bed.

"I mean, she's certainly brilliant enough to pull it off." The adults spent a minute taking in the news. "Promise me that you won't tell Hugo or Uncle Ron and Aunt 'Mione. Not even Albus. I can't risk being wrong. It's just he described a mad redheaded woman who is changing everything. If that doesn't sound like Rose, then I don't know what would."

"Yeah. Hugo's said he's busy now, he'll be down to see the baby later. Not a word from anyone, ok?"

"Not a word," they agreed.

When Rose got home, Hugo and Orion were gone. They had left a note on the counter about going to the park. She began preparing dinner when Beatrice called her.

"HELLO?" she yelled through the telephone.

"Beatrice you don't need to yell. I can hear you just fine." Rose reassured her. She had given Beatrice her phone number in the case that she needed to contact. It seemed that Beatrice had in fact taken advantage and gotten a hold of her boyfriend's cell phone.

"I was just, uh.., do you have a fireplace nearby?"

"Floo me. It's number 7 Mallsbury Court."

Soon Beatrice's face stuck out at Rose from her fireplace.

"I just wanted to tell you that a letter from the muggle government came in and uh, Thompson's been going around blabbing about you."

"Of course he has," she rolled her eyes. "You can send that letter to this address by owl. I know what it is." she turned to go back to the kitchen, but Beatrice's head was still sticking out of the fireplace.

"Anything else?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Well, no," Beatrice replied, hesitating before blurting out, "It's just. You know, everyone's been talking. And I know who you are, and our department knows who you are, but how has no one else noticed that you're back? You have a massive family, not that I should know that, but, you don't sit at home all day, do you?"

Rose stared at the fireplace for a moment, in disbelief. "Are you done?" Beatrice nodded, fear now in her eyes. Rose continued slowly, "I do not sit at home all day. No one recognizes me because, unlike much of my family, I'm not in every other magazine. We were kept out of the public eye as children and then after Hogwarts I went to work at the Department of Mysteries. How much more secretive could I become?" Rose laughed, "So despite the reputable name, barely anyone can recognize me past my red hair and Hogwarts graduation portrait."

"It just seems odd that none of this is in the news. Your family is always in the news; books, championships... They're breaking barriers and conquering things... I don't know, they're just everywhere." Beatrice looked frightened at the thought of having forgotten something, "And I mean, you're the youngest department head we've had in the last five centuries, but no one seems to have realized."

Rose stared down at the girl's face in the fireplace. She sighed, "My family, my friends... they don't all know that I'm back and I'm not quite ready to let them all know. They can be a bit too much sometimes," at that she sniggered, "ALL the time." she shook her head, "Anyways, it's my fault that I haven't been in their lives the last few years. If I decide to see them all again then I'll be diving headfirst into the madness that was my life."

"I'm sorry." Rose's assistant at a loss for words, "I shouldn't have asked, it wasn't my place. I'm... I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I understand the need to have something explained." Rose smiled at Beatrice, "I mean, c'mon, why do you think I joined the Department of Mysteries?" The women exchanged pleasantries before Beatrice's face disappeared from the fireplace.

Later that evening, by the time Hugo came home with Orion, Rose had finally managed to unpack the last boxes that had been in her closet. When they'd been moving, Rose had only packed the things from their home that she was certain they would need. She'd ordered many new things for their home in London, so as to not cause too much hassle and not disturb the home she'd left behind in New York.

"I think he had a great time!" said Hugo excitedly as Orion stumbled into the room grinning from ear to ear."

"Did you pack him full of sweets?" Hugo made a noncommittal noise. "Then, of course he did!" she picked Orion up, sat him down on the kitchen counter and grabbed a washcloth in an attempt to clean his dirty face. "He's totally sticky! It's the middle of the winter, where on earth did you take him?"

"Where on earth? Um... maybe it's better that I don't tell you. Anyways, I had a great time! See ya!" Hugo turned to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rose said angrily, pulling Orion off the counter and into her arms. "You got him this messy, you're helping me wash him."

"But I've got dinner with Scorpius."

"You value Scorpius over your own nephew?"

"I've only known him for like, under a week." Hugo argued, nonetheless, under Rose's glare he followed them up the stairs and helped Rose grab him a change of clothes and wash him. Eventually, they convinced Orion to get into his pyjamas.

"I just…" Hugo started.

"Don't say it."

"You didn't know what I was going to say."

"I know," an uncomfortable silence hung between the siblings. Rose turned to Orion, "You've been awfully quiet. Want to grab a bite to eat?" Orion nodded happily and Rose took him downstairs leaving Hugo behind.

"I've got to get going." he called to Rose when he got downstairs.

"Come by anytime."

"Christmas is next week."

"I'm aware!"

"Alright. Hope to see you before then." and Hugo left.

The following day after work Rose pulled out the Christmas decorations and with Orion's help, put them up around the house. The banister was soon covered in silver, red and green ribbons, a small Santa figurine was flying around the living room on a broomstick and two stockings hung from the fireplace mantel.

"Tomorrow we'll go out and get a tree," she promised Orion as she tucked him in and kissed him on the top of the head.

"Mummy. The pee'ple?" Orion questioned before she could leave. Rose turned around and sat down by his bed to explain.

"The people that we've seen lately?" Orion nodded his head. "A lot of these people are mummy's family, which makes them your family." Orion looked confused "Like uncle Hugo is mummy's brother. You know Al, he's mummy's cousin, so almost like my brother. It seems confusing now, but all you need to know is that they're a bit mad at mummy right now, which is mummy's fault, but they love you, even if they don't know you all that well yet."

"Daddy?"

"You haven't met your daddy yet."

"Scorpion."

"Yeah, Scorpion." she smiled at her sleeping son as she closed his door.