Regaining Normalcy
1945 – 1946
The day after their amusing talk with Charlus, Septimus and Cedrella sat down to talk things over.
"It'll take us a few days to unpack, clean and resupply the house." Septimus said. "And I want to check in with Zartang, see how our finances are."
Cedrella nodded. "Agreed. We also need to talk to Sirius and your father, see how things have been going in the Wizengamot, and what else has happened that we didn't learn from letters home. Then we need to figure out how to wriggle into that place."
"Harfang and Charlus will probably be happy to help us there." Septimus pointed out. "It ought to help considerably."
Cedrella nodded agreement. "Very much so."
Cedrella started on cleaning the house while Septimus got their trunk unpacked. In doing so, he ran across a few things belonging to the other Marauders that had gotten mixed in with their things accidentally. He had little doubt the others would be running across a similar issue as they unpacked. He piled those items on the couch closest to the fireplace they used for flooing so they wouldn't be forgotten the next time either they went to the other Marauders' homes or the other Marauders came here. Once everything was unpacked, Septimus hunted Cedrella down and helped her finish cleaning the house.
Thankfully, with magic, it didn't take long to clean. The house was mostly dusty and musty from being shut up for four years, rather than anything more dire, and that was easily taken care of. Once that was done, they headed out to resupply the house. Mostly, they needed food, but there were a few other things they needed as well. The house was completely bare of any food other than travel rations, as they'd known they would be gone for a long time and had emptied everything out when they'd first left for Europe. They'd been living on the travel rations the last few days rather than brave the Alley when they were tired and time-lagged. Their first stop was Gringotts, as they had nowhere near enough money on hand to buy all the food they'd need.
Zartang was pleased to see them when they were admitted to his office. "You will be delighted to know that your wealth has increased nearly one hundred fold in your absence." He informed them, looking thoroughly smug.
"A hundred fold?" Septimus echoed. He'd never expected it this soon when they'd first agreed to the deal that had resulted in Zartang being their account manager. He'd thought it would take another three or four years at least. "If I'm doing the math right, that puts us at the goal we'd set when we started."
In other words, they now had enough money in their vault to afford the expenses involved in having a child, including Hogwarts tuition, with enough to spare to handle unexpected expenses.
Zartang nodded and handed over their account statement. The picture it painted, when Septimus looked it over, was quite rosy compared to what he was used to growing up. It wasn't enough to have the newest and best of everything their heart desired. That said, their child would not be forced to use second-hand items when it came to the basic necessities of life and school equipment, with the exception of a broom. If their account continued to grow the way it had been, by the time their child was old enough to need or want a broom, they'd actually be able to afford a new one.
Septimus shared a pleased look with Cedrella, and was hard put to keep from laughing at the anticipatory gleam in Cedrella's eye. Yeah … it was going to be *good* to be a Weasley for a while.
"This is excellent, Zartang. I hadn't expected to reach this point for another few years yet." Septimus said.
Zartang looked pleased, and they adjourned to the vault itself to withdraw enough money to restock their pantry.
Once they'd returned home from their shopping trip and stored everything in the pantry, Septimus floo-called his father. Gaius was only too pleased to have the pair over for dinner.
"Just know you're liable to be subjected to an inspection, son. Your mother's fretted about you something fierce while you were over there, and she's going to want an accounting of every bruise." Gaius told him.
Septimus laughed. "That does sound like her." He agreed, then sobered. "Though she should be relieved to discover I made it out without too much damage. Charlus got the worst of it, really. He came perilously close to not coming back that one time." He grimaced at that less-than-pleasant memory.
When Septimus and Cedrella arrived at Weasley Cottage, they found themselves ambushed by Septimus' brothers and in the case of Victor, his wife and child. Septimus rolled his eyes at his father. Cedrella just smiled and offered no help whatever, the evil wench.
"A family reunion? Really dad?" He asked.
Gaius just looked smug while Septimus got tackled. For once, it wasn't one of his brothers doing it … it was his mother. She clung to him for long moments before she finally pulled back and gave him a rather watery attempt at a glare.
"I'm so glad you made it home safe." She said, dabbing at her face with a handkerchief. "Both of you. I've worried nonstop."
"We're all right. I'll admit to a few more scars than I started with, but nothing debilitating." Septimus said, patting his mother on the back when she finally let go of him.
Cedrella smiled again and said. "Well, I wasn't about to let Septimus die on my watch, and my sister felt much the same about Harfang, so we made sure they made it back in one piece. Dorea helped immensely with Charlus once those two were married."
Only when she returned to Gaius' side did his brothers tackle him. Cedrella saw it coming and stepped out of the way. Septimus found himself having to actively restrain a far more violent response than he had once employed in such free-for-alls. Fortunately, Victor seemed to notice and called the other two off before something unfortunate happened by accident.
"So. Gossip." Cedrella said, to cover the slightly awkward moment. "Because I know you guys didn't tell us everything."
The elder Weasleys and Septimus' brothers were only too happy to fill them in, and they all settled in the parlor for a long talk. They spent the rest of the evening catching Septimus and Cedrella up on all the things they'd missed out on. Who'd married who, who had kids, NEWT grades in Bilius' case, as he'd graduated four years ago, after they'd gone to Europe. All those sorts of things that either had been left out of letters or had been forgotten by Septimus and Cedrella in their concentration on surviving the war.
The biggest nugget of gossip seemed to be Dumbledore. According to Gaius, Dumbledore had taken off for Europe the moment the school year had ended, and spent the summer hunting Grindelwald down. Largely solo, which had been cause for a lot of comment at the time. It seemed to have only been sheer chance that their penultimate battle had witnesses from both sides of the war.
"The witnesses to their battle say it was incredible to watch. And apparently, a phoenix came to Dumbledore's aid, can you imagine that? Naturally, he's something of the hero of the hour. Who knows how long things would have gone on if he hadn't managed to defeat Grindelwald. There's even rumors that the reason that muggle fell when he did was because Grindlewald was either too busy evading Dumbledore or had already fallen to him, and couldn't help the guy."
Mentally, Septimus grimaced. He had not forgotten his dislike for how Dumbledore had handled Charlus making bullies accountable for their actions as best he could as a prefect. He also strongly suspected that Dumbledore was the reason that Charlus hadn't become Head Boy. Charlus had certainly had the scholastic marks to warrant the accolade. Moreso than the boy who had gotten the nod. The Marauders might have been expecting the snub, but it had still bothered Charlus at the time.
"Weird things have been happening at Hogwarts, too." Bilius said. "There was this kid … Slytherin, not a bully, but … something about him gave me the creeps, big time. Even as a third year, which is what he was when I graduated, he was way, way too popular and influential in that House. Especially since he wasn't a pureblood."
Septimus cocked an eyebrow. "A Muggleborn? In that House?"
"Not sure he was Muggleborn, really. Halfblood, maybe." Bilius said. "I just know Riddle isn't a pureblood name. Anyway, something about the kid worried me. And I heard, a couple years after I graduated, that someone was actually *killed* in the school. Oddly, not a lot of people seem to know anything about it. It's like it got hushed up or something. I've heard rumors of someone getting expelled, but no one seems to have a name to go with it. And given how things were going in school by the time I left, I'd be willing to bet real money that the person that got expelled isn't the real perpetrator."
"You are unfortunately probably not wrong about that." Septimus said on a sigh. "I know that there was a strong tendency to ignore the real troublemakers in the school when I was there. It wouldn't take much for it to go from there to accusing the wrong people of wrongdoing. People who don't have the sort of power and influence inherent with being a scion of a pureblood family."
They returned home fairly late in the evening after the brief family get-together. The next morning, they got floo calls from Harfang and Charlus both shortly after breakfast, wanting to meet up.
They congregated at The Den, which, while smaller and less impressive than the Longbottom and Potter homes, was sufficient to their needs. Septimus' assumption that items had gotten mixed up by all three couples was born out when Harfang and Charlus appeared with several items in hand. Septimus was amused to note that Jinx had arrived with Charlus, insistent on attending the Marauders. He disappeared into the kitchen to prepare lunch for them, much to everyone's amusement.
"Bet you he spruces up the house, too, despite it already being clean." Cedrella said.
"Not taking that bet, cousin." Dorea said on a laugh. "He fusses over all of us something fierce, doesn't he?"
They took a few moments to return items to their proper owners, and then adjourned to the couches.
"So, we've talked to Lord Longbottom, Lord Potter, and Lord Black since we returned." Harfang told them. "I'm betting you talked to Lord Weasley as well."
Septimus nodded. "We mostly got family gossip last night, though. I was going to drag the Ministry and Wizengamot nonsense out of him later."
"It's not good news, brother." Charlus said on a sigh. "The more extreme sorts have got themselves into important positions. Oh, not positions of power just yet, but ready to pounce when the existing powers leave their posts."
"Sirius is all but foaming at the mouth about Orion and Walburga." Dorea said. "Sirius has always been more neutrally aligned than anything else, but Orion and Walburga seem to be heading straight for the deep end of the extremist camp. They were apparently prime targets for the Marauders, and we all know what that means."
There were nods around the room. "Things don't look good, for fifty years or so from now, when Orion takes the Headship. Family Black is going to be in for a rough go of it unless something happens to improve matters."
"The Wizengamot was passing more and more stringent controls and laws as the war wore on … and they're showing no sign of stopping now, either." Harfang said. "Father's about to the point of slamming heads together, and he doesn't lose his temper easily."
Charlus shifted slightly in his seat, easing his weight off the leg and hip that still bothered him, legacy of his brush with death. "My father's in the same boat. He's been arguing himself hoarse in there with little to nothing to show for it."
"We need to do something … but what, I haven't a clue." Harfang admitted.
Callidora spoke up for the first time. "The best possible thing to be done, is for all of you to work on your reputations. You're war heroes to the general public. Parlaying that into a greater amount of influence and power would not be a bad idea." She told them.
"And if we worked together, formed a voting block … " Charlus said, nodding in agreement as he caught on to where Callidora was going with the idea. "We might be able to rally the other younger generation Light and Neutral families to our banner in a way our parents couldn't. I know a lot of our age mates strongly suspect us of being the Marauders, even if it's claimed they're still at large in the school. They all know when the Marauders started working, and they're not exactly stupid."
The Marauders had defended those being bullied and stood up for what was right. In more than a few cases that had meant assisting or defending fellow scions. It made those suspicious of the Marauders' identities far more inclined to ally with them.
"It would have the side benefit of being the last bit of leg-up you need, Septimus, to bring the Weasleys back into prominence. Being backed by the Potters and Longbottoms will go a very, very long way to easing everyone's minds." Harfang pointed out.
"And in a few years, when we have a power base to work with, we can talk to our respective fathers about stepping down from Headship early. With new blood working as a group in the Wizengamot, we might just be able to do something about the situation." Septimus said, agreeing with the idea. "It's a plan."