Severus surveyed them all where they sat, in an exact replica of the formation they had previously. "We need an accurate representation of your timeline so we can make a plan and so we can get you home. The Headmaster would like to be involved in the planning, so the sooner this is done the sooner we can begin." They all nodded. "I ask that you allow whoever is speaking to speak without interruption. At the end, if anyone can fill in any gaps or misunderstandings we may have, then you can let me know. Mr Granger, I believe I'll start with you."

Alex flinched slightly before he spoke. "I'm not altogether sure what information you want. I…" he hesitated, breathing deeply. "Draco found out about Mum's relationship with…Theo not long after they found out she was pregnant. He abandoned her as soon after that. Phee and I were born on 6th November 1999, obviously, we're thirteen, we came from March 2013. Once Lucius found out, Uncle George said the articles started. He said it began small and didn't directly mention Mum, questioning the morals of witches who fell pregnant out of wedlock, comparing the views in the muggle world to the wizarding one, questioning the validity of single parents and showing how much more accepting the muggle world was. They then began questioning how right that view was, there were lots of pieces on old families and their stability and they began questioning whether muggle borns were a threat to family life. Apparently, after that one it was revealed that….Theo, was our…fuck….um….biological father?" he ventured, clearly uncomfortable. "They ran a series of articles directed at Mum specifically. They questioned why she would keep us on her own, and accused her of being in it for the money, Uncle Harry and Uncle Sirius stepped in directly on that one. They'd been trying, along with Uncle Fred and Uncle George and some others to get the articles stopped, but with that one, they pointed out that Mum had the Lords of two old families among her close friends, she didn't need Nott's money. That only made it worse though, they accused her of seducing Uncle Harry and attempting to destroy his marriage. They also accused her of sleeping with Uncle Sirius and attempting to get her claws into the last Black Lord. Uncle Fred describes it as a complete shitshow. After that, they ran with the idea that mum had consciously decided to seduce Theo just for the money and intended to ruin his family.

We lived, live, with Uncle George, as I said. Uncle Fred lived with us until he moved in with Aunt Angie, he's around a lot. Uncle Sirius is around quite a bit as well and so are Uncle Harry and Aunt Gin. I don't know for sure but I'm pretty certain all of them are helping us out financially, especially more recently. I think Mum fights them on it quite a bit. Uncle Ron and Aunt Lavender are definitely responsible for feeding us, along with Grandma Molly at least twice a week."

"You never moved out from the Twins flat?" Severus asked.

"No. Mum never explicitly said but I don't think we could afford it. There are restrictions on where Muggleborns can live, most landlords increase the prices for them and as we've already said, there were taxes and limitations put on them in terms of work. Skeeter runs a regular "Where are they now?" sort of affair for prominent families, mainly sacred 28, which obviously brings up our birth and Mum's supposedly loose morals and greed. It's usually at least yearly unless one of them does something particularly noteworthy."

"I see. Does anyone else have anything to add?"

Cassius and Scorpius shared a look. "We're pretty certain Grandfather is blackmailing Skeeter. That's why the articles were so specific. I'm not sure what he's blackmailing her with though." Scorpius muttered.

"Wonderful," Severus replied caustically. "What laws were passed?"

"Um, there was the one where muggleborns had to pay a higher tax rate to cover the cost of their education. The logic was that it took longer for them to assimilate and therefore they needed to pay for the increased time people took to educate them." Ophelia answered hesitantly.

"And the muggleborn living areas, they weren't allowed to buy a house so they were managed by landlords that I'm pretty sure Lucius personally chose," Alex added.

"And there was the law that meant muggleborns couldn't hold a position higher than entry level. Their wages are lower too, in fact, I'm pretty sure they've been steadily lowering them for years. Grandfather got that one through similarly to the education tax, he said they didn't know our ways so couldn't legitimately hold any power. He said it took Muggleborns longer to learn what was expected of them because they hadn't been born in our world and because of the increase in the time it took to train them, giving them a lower wage made sense."

"All of the laws sort of came in small pieces from what my Dad says." Cassius cut in. "Lucius just sort of built them up bit by bit."

Severus nodded, "That makes sense. How did we go from there to Muggleborns are stealing magic and should be rounded up as lab rats for the Department of Mysteries?"

"Well, people were feeling sorry for muggleborns" Ophelia began hesitantly, "A lot of people thought the laws were unfair, Uncle Sirius thinks Lucius wasn't getting the results he wanted quickly enough, so he changed the story. Before that muggleborns and their families were steadily just leaving our world, there were obviously those who wanted desperately to stay so they begged or they stole to make ends meet if they didn't have help like Mum did. Mum stayed because her entire family was there, although I know she considered leaving more than once. I think we were pretty close to it when we came here. She took her muggle exams when things got really bad a few years ago and I know she has muggle money in another account. Gringotts isn't allowed to exchange it anymore so she only used it for food. I think the only reason she stayed so long, other than not wanting to leave family, was that she was worried about what Lucius would do. She didn't think he'd just let her disappear, and obviously, as Minister, he has a lot of resources. I know Uncle Sirius got really angry the first time she suggested moving, he pointed out that if she stayed where she was she had lots of wands who would defend us, whereas if she moved to the Muggle world, she'd be more vulnerable. He was determined that they'd find a way to get rid of Lucius. I think they were all working on it in the background. I know they got more than one Muggleborn safely set up somewhere."

Alex nodded along with his sister, "Squib rates are rising and the births are falling because the Purebloods are closing ranks and they're so interbred it's unsustainable. So Lucius decided to blame muggleborns. Uncle Percy still works at the Ministry, I overheard him telling Mum that the birth rates amongst muggleborns and half-boots are steady, or steady in comparison to the pureblood rates and all of them have had magic. Lucius used that to accuse muggleborns of stealing magic from those he considers better. He hired a new head of the DoM, it was a huge thing because obviously the DoM is outwith Ministry control and he was definitely meddling. He kicked Professor Croaker out and put in Sidney Travers. The man's as thick as two short planks, Mum rants about him often."

"Sidney Travers is the son of Lionel Travers….Lionel and my Grandfather have known each other for years." Scorpius said hesitantly. "I overheard them talking, they want to use muggleborns to test to see if it's possible to transfer magic. Not because Grandfather truly believes they're stealing it but because he wants to do something about Pureblood Squibs. He was also talking about using them to test different curses and potions, to see what they do to the body. It was….it was beyond disturbing, to be honest."

"Did you tell anyone?" Ophelia asked horrified.

"Dad. I told Dad. I believe he had arranged a meeting with your Mum just after we were due back at school." Scorpius said softly.

"Oh."

"Ye. Dad's a bit of an arse at times but even he didn't think any of what Grandfather was doing was right. He promised he'd try and fix it."

"What role does Thoros have in this?"

"He's Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, only he has more power than previous Chiefs. He can overrule votes if he chooses to, and he can introduce legislation without warning. He is also head of the Muggleborn Registration Committee. He's responsible for the team that obliviates all new muggleborns. They're no longer allowed in our world at all and obviously, he's also responsible for the team that monitors the adult ones left. They were also putting forward laws that would give them rights over children who were half-bloods if they had a muggle or muggleborn parent. I think the plan was to oblivate the muggleborn and take the children if their magical parent was absent or didn't want to leave their partner. There aren't many, but there are some…..Ophelia and Alex included. There were a couple of Carrows, I think and an Abbott, there were another few I can't remember, a Fawley? And I think Selwyn twins. None of them, bar the Granger twins, were from the main family line so they'd been watched less closely, hence the muggleborn parent."

"Fucking wonderful." Severus muttered, "How much did he have to do with Lucius' smear campaign?"

"I don't know for sure, but he and Grandfather are close. I imagine he had something to do with it."

Severus hummed. "Well, that was thoroughly depressing."

"Try living it, Professor," Ophelia replied wryly.

"No thank you. Now, does anyone have anything else to add?" They shook their heads. "Very well. I imagine I'll be asking for more information later, but this is enough for now. Return to your common room….I suggest you take your parents, I imagine this afternoon was an unpleasant reality check, perhaps tell them some things from your childhoods that are not horrific?" he suggested wryly. "I will update the Headmaster. Miss Granger? Do let us know when the mutt gets in touch."

"Yes, Professor," Hermione murmured, as Theo pulled her upright and hugged her close, both of them needing the comfort. Alex and Ophelia watched the scene with fascination, having never thought they'd see their parents in the same room, far less as obviously together as they were. Seeing it made some of what they had considered their mother's unusually poor judgement make sense.