Disclaimer: see chapter 1
"You're going to have younger brother named Beadle Bard and we're having Pumpkins and celery for dinner tomorrow." Said Persephone after racing to her cousin's room. Her mother had discovered her and she had panicked. Looking back it wasn't the best thing to do as it made her look the guilty party.
"What are you going on about?" asked Portia as she and Harry chased a golden snitch around the room
"You're getting a new brother and I'm getting a new cousin and we're getting a new house if you destroy this one." Said Persephone
"What do you mean? How we possible destroy this house?" asked Harry as he jumped from the nightstand to the bed
"Well, you could knock down a lamp and the house could burn down." Said Persephone
"It didn't happen last time." Said Portia as she pushed Harry off of the bed so she could get the snitch but she missed
"She has a point." Said Harry from the floor
"Who has a point?" asked Galatea as she entered the room.
"Portia, the house didn't burn down last time we knocked a lamp over." Said Harry as he climbed the book shelf
"That wasn't my fault!" said Galatea angrily
"Nobody said it was." Said Portia as she climbed up the bed post
"What are you two doing anyway?" asked Persephone
"Playing Quiddich of course." Said Portia
"Don't you need brooms for that?" asked Galatea
"Mother and Father said no flying in the house." Said Harry as he caught the snitch
"Best two out of three!" said Portia
"What is wrong with you two?" asked Paulette as she came in with some fresh linens
"I'm still slightly photo-sensitive." Said Persephone showing the red marks where the sun had touched her skin
"I need glasses." Said Harry taking off his glasses for emphasis
"Apparently it's called 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' not 'Best uses of the Dark Arts." Said Galatea remembering the note on her last progress report
"I'm practically perfect in every way." Said Portia self-importantly. Everyone promptly threw whatever was near at her
"Then I'm absolutely perfect in every way." Said Harry. Portia shoved him down and he pulled a button off of her shoe
"Fine, I'm slightly bossy and the teachers say I have a problem with authority and apparently the rules are there for a reason." Said Portia
"That was a rhetorical question but it's nice that you children haven't got terribly big heads. You parents on the other hand had to have their heads wheeled around in front of them because their necks were too small to support them." Said Paulette
"Really?" asked Harry. Everyone laughed and he blushed
"Child, you take things too literally." Said Paulette as she put the linens in the closet
"Paulette, why are you doing this if you're the head maid?" asked Harry
"We're even more short staffed than normal this holiday." Said Paulette
"Why?" asked Portia
"Well, lots of people have children at school or have just plain gone on to better work in the mainland." Said Paulette
"Why don't they just work here?" asked Harry
"Because they think that the factory is Squib work." Said Galatea happy to know something they didn't
"But the houses need servants and they make good servants so why don't they just work here?" asked Harry
"Come here children." Said Paulette as she sat down. She remembered having a similar conversation with Peter as he came back from his first year at Hogwarts. She took a relaxing breath, none of the children completely knew how the world worked.
"Why Paulette?" asked Persephone as she sat down next to Harry
"Things are different on the outside." Said Paulette trying to remember how she explained it to Peter. He was about their age but it was different times.
"I know that." Said Galatea
"What do you know?" asked Paulette
"Well, there are muggle and sometimes muggles make magical children. They're called Mudbloods btu we're supposed to say muggle borns. Also, everyone wants to work for the ministry and the pure blood families are rich but I'm not entirely sure how they got their money. Also, they don't have any colonies." Said Galatea trying to sound like an expert
"I noticed that too. They're also afraid of someone called You-Know-Who but I don't know who." Said Harry
"I think he's Lord Moldy Wart or something." Said Portia
"No, he's Lord Voldemort. Honestly, haven't either of you read 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts'." Said Galatea
"Back to subject, things work differently in other ways. All of you know that there are no muggles on Remordere, right?" asked Paulette. They children nodded.
"Plenty of Squibs though." Said Persephone
"Yes, do you know how Squibs come to be?" asked Paulette
"A man has a wand and a woman had a wand sleeve-" started Harry
"No Harry, not like that. You see when people marry their cousins… or siblings…problems happen." Said Paulette
"That's why I'm the way I am?" asked Persephone
"Yes, your parents were siblings." Said Paulette
"But mine weren't?" said Galatea
"No, your father may have been a pure blood but his family didn't mix with the Pettigrews before you." Said Paulette
"Are mother and father siblings?" asked Harry
"You idiot, mother's maiden name is Hillspare." Said Portia
"Close cousins." Said Paulette
"So if you want to be a pure blood you have to marry a member of your family." Said Harry slightly queasy. He liked his sister and cousins well enough but he didn't want to marry either of them.
"Yes, but it will bring good fortune upon you." Said Paulette
"Because we're better." Said Galatea
"How do you figure that?" asked Paulette
"Well, we're not mudbloods, we're purebloods." Said Galatea
"That's the kind of mentality that makes all of the magic people leave the island." Said Paulette
"But if all of the magic people leave why are we here?" asked Portia
"Because you're children. You go where your parents go." Said Paulette
"Why are our parents here then?" asked Harry
"Because somebody has to take care of the house." Said Paulette
"I thought that the servants did that." Said Persephone
"The servants are all leaving, dummy." Said Portia
"They weren't leaving before!" said Persephone
"Oh, they've been leaving since before I even started working here as a scullery maid." Said Paulette
"That was when Grindelwald was in power. I thought people were seeking asylum in Remordere and the colonies." Said Galatea
"Oh the rich and moderately wealthy yes but the poor went off to better things on the outside. They became Aurors you see and they just didn't come back. They had pure blood so they did much better than they would have here."
"Why did you stay?" asked Portia
"For you father." Said Paulette
"You were his nanny." Said Harry sating the fact
"Nanny, governess, wet nurse, tutor, the works." Said Paulette
"I figured that's why you went to India with the family." Said Galatea
"India?" asked Harry
"The rich and their servants went to their estates in the colonies." Said Paulette
"Why didn't we go when the dark lord came to power before?" asked Galatea
"Because your parents left to fight the dark lord." Said Paulette
"They just put us in harm's way?" asked Persephone
"You weren't even born yet." Said Paulette
"Is that why I lived with those muggles when I was little?" asked Harry. Everyone looked at him like he had grown an extra head
"It was a case of…mistaken identity." Said Paulette
"I've been asking for years but you tell Paulette?" asked Portia
"So rude." Said Persephone
"No family loyalty." Scuffed Galatea
"No don't be like that, it's his business." Said Paulette
"Father said we had to hide because a criminal was coming to get me." Said Harry
"Yes, they thing you're Harry Potter and some of the dark lord's old followers would like to…hurt you." Said Paulette
"Maybe it would be safer for me to stay here all the time. I don't really want to spend my life here but have I really got a choice?" said Harry
"You're going to continue to go to Hogwarts. Just don't mention your father."
"We've been told that a million times." Said Portia
"Why all the cloak and dagger secrecy anyway? This dark lord seems long gone." Said Persephone
"I don't think he is. A man as crazy as that had to have some kind of contingency plan. Besides, I saw the same thing after Dumbledore defeated Grindlewald, the splinter cells can be just as dangerous." Said Paulette
"Splinter cells?" asked Portia
"Followers who want to carry on his work. That's why your father was born in India. The Pettigrew family his for almost twenty years after he fell." Said Paulette
"And we're hiding again, just our own home this time." Said Galatea
"No more of this doom and gloom. You children may be better off but it's our actions, not the circumstances of our birth that dictates how good we are. Remember that." Said Paulette as she got up. She left the room and the children started to whisper amongst themselves.
"Let's just hope that this generation listens to me." Muttered Paulette as she looked at an old group portrait of the Pettigrew children.