Chapter 7
"You confused me on purpose," Luna hissed at the infant. It was three days after they had returned from the hospital and the first chance Luna had gotten to speak with her new sibling. "Good job. Constant Vigilance."
Alright, so the baby probably didn't understand a word of what Luna said, but Luna didn't care. The baby had used its magic to successfully mask itself to the point where a seer hadn't been able to tell the gender or number. The baby would doubtless grow up to be very powerful.
"Cassie, we'll be going to Hogwarts soon."
She looked up at her sister. "Luna, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Do you know what House you want to be in?" asked Luna.
Cassie shook her head. "Haven't really thought about it, why?"
"War is coming, and soon even the House you're sorted into will affect your safety and happiness."
"I-I thought you said-"
"He won't care about your House, but others will. You must choose now so that you'll have proper arguments worked out for the sorting."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Kate, trust me on this," said Mark. "The girls' Hogwarts-and probably Salem- letters will arrive sometime within the next three days. My sister has no idea magic exists, and she'd be more likely to believe it if there was more than just me there to explain. The kids should meet their other cousins, and I know you've been dying to see the baby."
Kate Carter let out a sigh. "Did Sam really say that all four of us could stay with them? It must be a tight fit as it is. Adding two adults and two children into the mix can't help."
"Don't worry about it. We should only be here for a week."
With that Mark knocked on the door. A dog barked loudly as the unmistakable voice of Jack O'Neill said, "Gimme a minute."
Seconds later, Jack opened the door. "Hey Mark, Kate. Sam'll be glad you're here."
"Jack," Mark said by way of greeting while Kate said hello. "Kids, say hello to Uncle Jack."
Three year old Emily hid behind her father's leg while eight year old Anthony hugged Jack. Kate smiled and picked Emily up before following Jack into the house. Mark closed the door once they were inside.
"She's a bit shy," said Kate.
"Don't worry about it," said Jack. "Sam's still at work-one of the computers broke or something, but she should be back later tonight." He looked down at Emily and Anthony. "Luna and Cassie are out back playing with the dog."
Both Anthony and Emily perked up at that. Kate put Emily down. "Why don't you two go play with your cousins for a while."
"Straight through that door," Jack said, pointing to a screen door in the kitchen. Once the children were gone, he added, "The children will be staying in Luna and Cassie's room. Sam and I already set up some beds for them. The baby is in the nursery and you'll be staying in the guest room."
Mark nodded. From what Sam had told him, Luna and Cassie had insisted on sharing a room because it was "lonely at night."
"The baby…"
"Should be just about finished with the afternoon nap," said Jack. "Why don't I show you to your room and the kid's room and then we'll go get the baby."
Mark couldn't help but roll his eyes as Kate cooed over the baby. The woman would probably be bugging him about a third child once they returned to San Diego.
However Mark had no desire to deal with the problems that could occur because of a second son. Then again, there were potions that could guarantee the gender of a child. Maybe Kate would like a second daughter.
Sure, there was the problem of providing a dowry, but Mark knew that there was more than enough money in his account for that. And his law firm was very successful.
Luckily, Jacob had already arranged for some of his money to be put aside earlier that year. Since Luna and Cassie were daughters of the House of Carter, it was the responsibility of either the head of house (his father), or Mark himself as heir to the House of Carter, to ensure that the girls had proper dowries, educations, and marriages. But unless Sam and Jack spoke to him about it, Mark had no intention of allowing Kate to arrange marriages for either girl.
His marriage to Kate had been arranged while he was in his first year of schooling at Salem. And he had to say that he'd never regretted marrying Kate Diggory.
The customs regarding arranged marriages in the wizarding world were… odd, to say the least. The mother, grandmother, and aunts of the witch in question decided which wizard the girl was to marry (taking any preference the child may have into consideration), then contacted the mother of the wizard in question. Then the women of both families met, including the girl, to arrange the contract itself.
Once the contract had been arranged, the witch and wizard would be considered intended for each other, but the actual date of the wedding would not be decided upon until the wizard proved himself in battle. To prove himself in battle, the wizard would have to duel one of his intended's male relatives (and while the boy didn't necessarily have to win, he did have to prove he was a competent warrior). Only then could the wizard and witch be considered betrothed. Once they were betrothed, the marriage generally happened within the year.
Amos Diggory had put him through quite the fight when the time came. But Kate was by that time his only female relative. Mark was just grateful that Kate was nothing like her annoyingly pompous cousin.
"I understand the first name, but I cannot figure out why the girls kept giggling over the middle name," said Kate, both men knowing she spoke about the child in her lap. During the baby's baptism a month earlier, Luna and Cassie had discretely giggled every time the infant's middle name was mentioned.
Jack shrugged. "Sam said I wasn't allowed to name to baby or any future children because I'd name them after the Simpsons, but she let me pick the middle name."
Mark couldn't help but snicker at that. Luna and Cassie loved watching the Simpsons and had, without fail, watched it every day-except for when they were at Jack's cabin. And that was only because the cabin didn't have a TV.
"Wait, what does the name Elspeth Margaret have to do with the Simpson family?" asked Kate. "None of the members I've met have been named Margaret."
Mark winced mentally. Kate was enough of a pureblood that she thought television odd and frightening. Both his parents had been squibs. Squibs more than capable of surviving in the Muggle world.
"Kate doesn't watch TV much. I don't think she even knew the show existed," said Mark. At least it was the truth.
Jack gave him a look. "Ri-ight. You never did mention the reason you're here."
"Can't a man visit his younger sister?" asked Mark. Then he sighed. "I'll explain when Sam gets back from work. I don't want to do this twice."
"We've been around since the beginning, you know," Luna said. "We just made sure you didn't notice."
"What are you talking about?" asked Sam, feeding Elspeth a bottle of formula.
"I thought I was the one who was going to tell them," said Mark.
Kate, Mark, Cassie, Luna, Sam, and Jack were in the living room. Emily and Anthony had already been sent to bed. Sam had gotten back rather late, because the entire computer system on base had been malfunctioning and it had taken quite a while to fix the problem.
"They should know the story. They should know where we-they as well, come from," said Luna. "Mummy's specialty was our ancestor's technology. She spent her life studying them, their technology, their culture, and their knowledge. I've read all of her notes, all her books, all her theories. They need to hear it from the beginning."
Mark gave Luna a hard look. "Alright."
"Our people were not from Earth originally," Luna said. "They ran from Wraiths. Ran, ran, far away. They came back to Earth to live and they married the locals. It couldn't have been known. The first thing to go was the gene. It didn't like to stay with the Magic-"
"Magic? Magic isn't real," interrupted Sam. "I know you like to think those sorts of things are real, but-"
"Sam," interrupted Mark. "Magic is real. I'm a wizard, my wife is a witch, and Luna, Cassie, and Elspeth are witches."
"That's ridiculous. There is no such thing as…"
Sam's voice trailed off as Mark turned the coffee table into a kitten with a stick. Her mouth opened, once, twice, then three times without sound. She then began spouting off how it was scientifically impossible and the result of some sort of slight of hand.
In the end, it took over three hours to convince Sam that magic was indeed real. The entire time, Luna sat back, watching Jack as he absorbed the information silently. Nobody bothered to ask Luna to finish her… story. And perhaps it was for the best.
The letters arrived the next morning. The night before, both Sam and Jack had requested the day off because "Sam's brother and his family was visiting." Luckily, neither SG-1 nor SG-2 (Sam had rejoined the team at Kawalsky's insistence) had an offworld assignment.
"Stay here please," Mark said, each time an owl delivered a letter. "We should have your response soon." He would then give each owl some of the bacon that was meant for breakfast.
By the time breakfast was over, thirteen letters had been delivered to each girl. Neither Jack nor Sam had said anything, though Luna was sure that Sam wanted to speak.
"These are invitations to various schools of magic," explained Mark. "I went to Salem, Kate attended Beauxbatons, and Eos Lovegood nee Malfoy attended Hogwarts. I know for a fact that Ginny Weasley will be attending Hogwarts and that Luna wants to attend Hogwarts. No matter which school the girls are sent to, the school will not offer any form of Muggle education-uh, these schools only teach magic and subjects useful to magic."
"That's not acceptable," snapped Sam. "The girls are going to go to high school and get their diploma."
"Dad's already arranged for them to be tutored on the weekend while at school and during the weekday when they're on vacation. He insisted on paying for it himself," said Mark. "He did the same for me when I was at Salem."
That seemed to calm Sam down a bit. "Which schools are these for? And would the girls have to learn another language? How far away are these schools? Which offers the best education?"
"Well let's see which invited them," said Mark, starting on the pile closest to him. "Tara-good for the old magics, but you need to know Gaelic and they don't offer an acceptable level of education in the newer magics. It's in Ireland"
He put the invitations from Tara to the side and found two more matching invitations. "Salem. It's a good school-the best in the Americas. Good education, but it focuses on the newer magics." They were put in a different pile.
"Durmstrang," he said, pulling out two more. "Tough school, they'd need to learn both Russian and German. Nobody's sure the exact location of the school, but it's in Eastern Europe somewhere. I wouldn't let any child of mine be sent there. They teach things which most countries banned. Magics that were banned for good reason." They were put with the invitations to Tara.
"Let's see… Beauxbatons. Very good school, but they would need to learn French. They don't often have students from outside of Western Europe and the Mediterranean. The girls would be ostracized at the very least."
The Beauxbatons invitations joined Durmstrang and Tara. There were three invitations from various Asian schools, one from the school of magic in Alexandria, Egypt, two from South American schools along with one from Canada. The invitations from the Canadian school joined the one from Salem while the rest went into the reject pile.
Finally, he picked up the last two letters. "These are from Hogwarts. Hogwarts is the oldest school of magic in the world, founded a millennia ago. Before that time, witches and wizards were taught by apprenticeship. It's also the best school in all of Europe. It teaches a well balanced course load of both new and old magics, though it's not particularly liberal. Small student body and class sizes smaller than any other school. They're very selective and invite only those they feel are powerful enough.
"They don't generally invite Americans. Most, if not all of their students are from the British Isles. The only reason why Cassie may have been invited is because her sister is still a citizen of the United Kingdom."
"Which school do you want to attend," Jack asked.
"Hogwarts." Luna gave him a look that made it clear that she would accept attending no other school. "I've been registered for Hogwarts since I was born. Mummy went to Hogwarts. Ginny will be going to Hogwarts."
"Cassie?" asked Jack.
"I want to go too," said Cassie.
"Where is Hogwarts?" asked Jack.
"As far north as you can get without leaving Scotland," said Kate. "My nephew, Cedric, is about to enter his fourth year there. If you send the girls there, I can ask him to keep an eye on them."
"Which school is better, Hogwarts or Salem?" asked Sam.
"Hogwarts," Kate and Mark said in unison.
"You two are sure about this?" asked Sam. "Hogwarts is very far away."
Luna and Cassie nodded.
"What sort of education does Hogwarts offer?" Sam asked with a sigh.
"Until Fifth year Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Astronomy, and Flying lessons their First year (yes, witches and wizards fly on brooms). Once they reach their third year, they must pick at least two more subjects to take. These subjects include Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Healing, Ancient Runes-that's important for the old magics, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies." Mark paused; glad he'd done research on various magical schools in preparation for this.
"At the end of Fifth year they sit for their OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) in each subject they take. Their grades on these tests influence which NEWTs classes they can take. NEWTs, or Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. These are standardized exams very well respected in the international community. If they doe well on their NEWTs, they could get a job in any country with those scores alone."
Sam let out a sigh. "What do we need to do to accept the invitation to Hogwarts?"
"I'll take care of it," said Mark. "As soon as I'm done with that, we might as well get the girls their school supplies. We should be able to get most, if not all of the things on their list in Denver."
Several hours later Mark led the family around Denver from magical store to magical store. Unlike their British counterparts, American wizards and witches believed in hiding in plain sight. There were roughly fifty-three magical stores hidden like the Leaky Cauldron throughout Denver.
And if Sam was the only one that actually had to be led into the stores, only Luna noticed.