Chapter Six

Summer Activities

When Jeremy Miller first found out that Quintin and Rus were assigned the same cabin at Lake Saw-whet, he was elated. It wasn't until the first morning of summer camp that he realized how unlucky it was after Quintin took the order to get up at 0600 hours way, way too literally. For the last several weeks, Jeremy joined his cabin mates in Cabin Whippoorwill and threw his balled up socks at Quintin first thing in the morning. It got even worse after the camp director unwisely made Quintin the cabin leader and gave him a small whistle.

"Time to get up! Best foot forward! Let's head out! It's our day to head to the lake, you know!" Quintin declared, ducking and side-stepping the socks as they came in. Jeremy tossed a pillow at his face, and that one landed squarely. "Let's go, everyone! Don't forget today's the semi finals in rowing, and some of you still haven't passed your swimming safety class yet! First to breakfast gets the hottest food, you know!" he reminded them, persisting until everyone was up. They began complaining to each other just how cold it was that time of the morning.

On the way to breakfast, his cabin mates plotted different ways of breaking Quintin's whistle, which blew with every perfectly timed march that led them to be first in line. In the beginning, campers from other cabins had attempted to beat them to the breakfast line. Cabin Horned Owl, their closest competitor, even spent the night in the mess hall to do it. But it wasn't long before the other cabins realized that it simply wasn't worth the lack of sleep, and allowed the Whippoorwills regain their honorary title.

"We should have been calling Morning Larks instead of Whippoorwills," Rus said grumpily.

"Drink your orange juice, Rus, it'll help you wake up," Quintin suggested.

"I'm going to go see who I have to bribe for a cup of coffee," Rus decided, getting up.

"Could you see if there's any post while you're at it?" Quintin asked hopefully.

"Sure," Rus agreed, walking over.

"I really hate getting up early, but I do like the fact that we never get stuck in that line. We always get our choice at breakfast without having to worry about the cafeteria running out of anything," Jeremy admitted.

"But does it have to be so cold in the mornings?" Jason complained, another one of their cabin mates.

"I don't mind the cold mornings. It's how humid it gets in the afternoon that bothers me the most," Quintin admitted.

"That part I'm used to. It's always humid in the midwest this time of year," Jason said.

"And buggy," Jeremy added.

"Now that you mention it, Mum was going to make me a lotion that would keep bugs away," Quintin said, regaining interest in the post. Fortunately, Rus was on his way back with a cup in one hand and bundle of mail in the crook of his other arm, including a small package for Quintin. "Ah, there we are! This would have been a lot easier if they simply let me keep my Chest Cloak."

"True, but they didn't want us losing them," Rus replied, letting him grab his package and letter off the top before setting his coffee down and delivering the rest of the letters to their eager cabin mates.

"Oh, it looks like Mum sent some extras," Quintin said after opening the box, taking out one of the bottles and then handing Rus one. "Anyone else? It's a combination of Bug Be Gone Balm, Sunshield Potion, and moisturizer," he offered, and several hands went up. Quintin distributed the rest and then sat down with his letter. Jeremy had one from his Dad, and Rus had a letter from his grandfather.

It was something that had begun from the very first time the mail was dropped off; anytime Quintin had a letter from his mother, Rus had one from Quintin's father. The next time around it was reversed, with Quintin getting one from his Dad, and Rus getting one from his grandmother. They had also noticed early on that other than the typical updates on how they were getting on, they dropped different bits of news, which meant that Rus and Quintin had to confer with one another if they wanted to be up to date on all of the family gossip.

"Apparently, Hope and Eben are married already," Quintin reported. "They moved into a Wizard flat near the museum and went back to work straight away, but they are thinking about taking up Mum's offer of using Parra when school starts up again and nobody's using it."

"Wow! I knew Hope was a fast mover, but that's fast even for her. Still, I thought she was opposed to the whole marriage thing," Rus said. "She always told us that she was married to her job."

"She married another Auror, so isn't that still like being married to her job?" Jeremy pointed out.

"I hope he realizes what he's in for. Hope is as wild as it gets," Rus said, turning to his letter.

"Anything interesting?" Quintin asked.

"Did Grandmother tell you that she finally passed the Auror test?" Rus asked.

"She did?" Quintin asked brightly. "That's great! I knew she would."

"It did take her longer, though," Jeremy pointed out. "Eben and Destiny had already passed theirs the last time you two got mail."

"Grandfather says that he was concerned that she wouldn't be able to pass the flying portion of the exam," Rus relayed, "but he says that, 'the Canadian squad leader was relentless and ruthless with his efforts to get Grandmother over her fear of brooms, and managed to stock up on the headquarters' winter firewood pile for the trouble.'" he quoted.

"I don't get that part. It's summer," Jeremy said.

"Well, firewood does have to sit and dry for a very long time, but I'm not sure I understand what firewood has to do with anything either. I'll ask him when we get back," Rus decided.

"Two more weeks left. The time just flew by, didn't it?" Jeremy realized.

"I wouldn't say that," Quintin said. "Personally, I'll be glad when we're back in Pittsburgh, making pizzas and getting our summer homework out of the way."

"Homework is exactly why I'm not keen on getting back," Jeremy admitted, then brightened. "Do you want to go to Kennywood while you're staying with us?"

"Sure, after our homework is done," Rus said. Jeremy made a face, while Quintin nodded in support. "Oh, come on, homework going into second year isn't half as bad as mine," Rus said. "I have more classes than you, and I want my marks to be well ahead by the end of the semester, because Grandfather's given me permission to apply for the exchange program to Whitebridge."

"But you're just a fourth year. Isn't that normally for older students?" Jeremy asked.

"It's because of what I'm being thinking about going into," Rus explained, putting the note away. "You see, I am thinking about becoming a therapist, specializing in child psychology," he explained.

"Because of your brother?" Jeremy asked solemnly, wondering if he was overstepping. But Rus didn't seem to be offended at all.

"Yes, partially," Rus replied. "You see, being a Truth Seeker, I have a lot of insight about what my brother's going through, as well as inisght into Doctor Conner's methods. In fact, he takes me for lunch sometimes and writes me letters at school so we can talk about it, since I'm in a unique position of seeing both sides of things. Conner Donovan's specialty is helping people work through life traumas, but normally he works with adults. The main reason Doctor Conner is working with my brother is because he's the only person my Grandmother would approve of," he explained. "But children don't have the same skills in communicating that adults do, and they have different ways of showing emotion, assuming they know how to show it at all, which many of them don't. So I was thinking that maybe what would help the most is having a Truth Seeker therapist who can bridge those communication gaps."

"So part of the problem with your brother is that his therapist is an adult psychologist?" Jeremy asked.

"No, I wouldn't say that," Rus said. "I think they've connected really well as a whole, because Doctor Conner uses different games as a therapy device. It's quite brilliant, actually. I think if I become a child psychologist, I'll use many of the same methods... maybe we can even partner up, because I know he's always looking for help."

"That's true. He's never not busy," Quintin agreed.

"Anyway, when Grandmother found out about what I wanted to be, she pointed out just how much of a commitment was involved. She's a bit worried that I'm getting ahead of myself, you see, so it was her suggestion for me to go to Whitebridge for a year to see how I felt about it after I had some exposure to those classes. She and Grandfather both agreed that it's better if I go during the fourth-year fifth-year split, so that I would know for certain if I wanted to pursue it before we started prepping for OWLS," Rus concluded.

"It sounds like good advice," Jeremy decided. "But I guess if you're going to be doing Healer's School prep, you won't have either of my parents in class."

"I bet he gets stuck in Dr. Smith's class," Quintin teased.

"Oh, no," Rus grinned. The other two chuckled at him, then got ready to head to the lake.


Jennifer sat at the Black's kitchen table with Serendipity on her lap. No amount of coaxing would move her, content to steal berries and pieces of a scone off her mother's plate rather than to go back to her own.

"Apparently, Jeremy has met another girl at camp," Jennifer relayed as she read Quintin's letter.

"I suppose it was overdue, considering he seems to be averaging one a week," Severus mused, eating his soft boiled egg.

"Quintin also says that their rowing team made it through the semis and are going into the finals. His coach says that his keen sense of timing and being able to instantly judge the times of other boats as well makes him a very powerful coxwain, and that he should look into joining a regular team," Jennifer said with amusement.

"Oh, Lord, not another sport. Hogwarts has enough as it is," Severus complained.

"Perhaps he'll do what Dale did and go to college," Jennifer teased. "So what was in your letter? Anything that Quintin didn't mention?"

"Rus says that they're writing out a skit. All of the different cabins are performing a small play as part of the last week of camp, and Quintin picked a scene from a book to act out," Severus replied.

"Oh, let me guess," Jennifer said, covering her eyes. "Around the World in 80 Days."

"However did you guess," Severus said sarcastically.

"Ever since Alex gave him that book, he's been quite enamored with it," Jennifer chuckled. "He only had a week before camp and yet still managed to plot out maps of more efficient routes than what Fog took and pasted them all over his walls."

"Yes, I know. I was there to rescue the Sorting Hat when he accidentally covered him up in the process," Severus said with exasperation. "Rus is also asking if those reports about the Dashing Doppler in the paper are true and if we know more about it than the paper does."

"I'd refer that one to his mother, since I really don't know how much she wants to say about it. Besides, it really has nothing to do with the Auror department, does it?" Jennifer pointed out.

"Well, we only have another couple of weeks before I need to head back to help Hermione prepare for the new school year. Therefore, if we want to convince Harry that keeping couples together is an asset instead of a detriment, it must be now," Severus reminded her. "Which means that when we're on duty... especially when we're out on a capture, no fighting, no flirting..."

"Oh please, I beg you, no flirting!" Sirius interrupted as he came into the room, setting Samantha down. "There's only so much that I can take from you two! Aren't you tired of him yet, Jennifer?"

Jennifer shook her head with a smile.

"Good morning is typically customary when entering a room," Severus retorted. "What sort of example are you setting for your daughter, behaving like that?"

"I agree with Severus on that one," Anna defended him on her way to the kitchen.

"And what about all of this flirting in public?" Sirius challenged him. He got Samantha settled in a chair next to Serendipity's, who hat finally decided it was time to come off of her mother's lap and eat her own breakfast. "I remember a time when the two of you wouldn't show affection in front of your own children, let alone anyone else."

"Only partially correct. Jennifer has always flirted incessantly, regardless of who is in the room," Severus replied.

"I have not!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"It may not have been intentional, but you have nonetheless," Severus informed her.

"He has a point, Jennifer, but I meant intentionally," Sirius said, taking a seat and reaching for the cup that had appeared in front of him. "Alex and the other three told me that they didn't notice it at all until they were dating age and picked it up when the two of you were bickering. Even Lucky was a few years older before she started making comments on it," he recalled. "But Leu told me that the two of you had openly shown affection from the start... aha! It's because of that year... when you quit Hogwarts," Sirius deduced.

"Always the late sleuth, coming in after the mystery is solved," Severus replied. "My pride was stripped away from me as if losing my outer skin, and once it was done, I had to rediscover who I was all over again. In the process, I found that I had changed a great deal."

"I know exactly how that feels," Sirius said flatly.

"I'm sure you do, Sirius the Cleansed," Severus sneered. "Or do you prefer Sirius the Immaculate?"

"HEY! Who told him about that?" Sirius demanded.

He glared accusingly at Jennifer, but she shook her head.

"Anna? Did you tell him about my Otherworld moniker?" Sirius shouted into the living room.

Anna stepped over to the door with the deadpan expression she had inherited from her father.

"It wasn't me," Anna informed him.

"So, who was it, then?" Sirius squinted. Then he noticed Zoe slipping out the kitchen door. "Oh, no you don't!" Sirius growled.

He was barely out of his seat before he turned into Padfoot. He charged out the pet door when Zoe tried to slam the kitchen door to slow him down. Jennifer laughed softly at that.

"As entertaining as it would be to see how that turns out, we need to head back to work," Severus informed Jennifer.

"Yes, alright. Be a good girl, Seren," Jennifer said, kissing the girl on the top of the head. "You be good too, Samantha."

"Aunt Jennifer kicks bad guys butts!" Samantha declared. Jennifer blinked.

"Apparently I've got to go dip a dog biscuit in hot sauce," Anna decided. "Be careful out there!"

"We will," Jennifer chuckled, taking her Chest Cloak from Severus and following him out the door.

When the two of them got to the office, they were surprised to see Charles Willowby at the board, his face bruised on one side and his left handed bandaged.

"Why, Chuck! What happened?" Jennifer immediately exclaimed, hugging him. "I thought you were on holiday!"

"I wouldn't call it a holiday," Charles said, giving his grandmother a quick hug. "Amy and I went to help Roy Lockhart find a missing Cursebreaker... turns out, he didn't want to be found," he explained. "He was smuggling magic items out of India, but fortunately I was able to capture him and take him to the local authorities. Amy was able to help them sort out the items he had been stealing from several wizard excavation sites. At the very least, I'd say Roy has plenty of writing material for his next book."

"We'll wait until it comes out in print," Severus said, having no intention of reading it.

"You know, despite everything, his heart is in the right place," Charles said in his defense, looking over at his grandfather. "He really is trying to right all of his past wrongs against people to help him put it all behind him, but I spent a lot of the trip thinking that it would have been better if he just hired us to go find the guy by ourselves instead of going along himself. I mean... to put it mildly... he has absolutely no idea what in stars he's doing when it comes to defense."

"I could have told you that," Severus replied evenly.

"He wanted me to 'refresh his memory' on Defense techniques, but even if we had the time, I don't think I'd have the patience," Charles admitted. "I suggested that he find a Defense instructor before he tries to go off and gets into trouble again."

"I know the perfect suggestion," Severus offered. "Send him to Canada to talk to Flyer Wright. From what I witnessed, he's quite the expert when it comes to impossible cases."

Jennifer, who had been nodding in agreement at the suggestion, whipped her head around and squinted at Severus.

"Brilliant idea. I wonder if he'd actually bite," Charles smirked.

"Simply have Roy offer to pay Wright's bar tab for every week of training, and he'll be allowed to stay as long as he likes," Severus suggested. "But if Flyer Wright actually manages to do anything with Lockhart, I will officially acknowledge him as a miracle worker."

"I'll tell him that part myself. It'll be more incentive to get him to take Roy off my hands," Charles agreed with a grin.

Harry came out of his office, putting on his gloves.

"I see you're ready. What did I miss?" Harry asked.

"We were talking about sending Lockhart to Flyer Wright to see what he can do with him," Charles said. "In exchange for paying his bar tab."

"I bet five galleons that we don't see Lockhart for a year," Harry said, unsurprised when there weren't any takers.


Severus and Jennifer's remaining two weeks as Aurors were very busy indeed.

Harry, it seemed, was quite interested in pushing them to get in as many captures as they could while he still had the extra help. On some of the multiple wizard captures, he decided to take Jennifer and Aurelius' advice and let Eben and Hope team up, noticing that Hope had a particular knack of pushing Eben past hesitancy issues that Doug and Garvan hadn't been able to correct. Perhaps Jennifer and Severus did have a point after all, Harry thought, especially after they performed well during a difficult capture involving a gang of dark wizards that Harry had wanted to bring in for some time. But then again, what if something went wrong and one of the died... or worse, both of them?

After the gang was safely processed in Azkaban, Severus suggested stopping at the Three Broomsticks for some meat-rolls and drinks. They gathered around the icy fireplace to cool down and chat about their different experiences during the capture. Harry watched the other Aurors thoughtfully with a full glass in hand, debating the issue.

"Already plotting our next capture, are we?" Severus inquired, stepping up behind his chair.

"No, not really. That was a brilliant move by Pockets getting to where that last wizard was holed up, by the way," Harry said.

"Yes, Jennifer's Animagus form has definitely come in handy during some of these trickier captures," Severus mused.

"We need to use every legal advantage we can get, because they're using all of the illegal ones," Harry replied.

"Agreed," Severus said. "So what's next?"

"Other than welfare checks during the next few days, there really isn't anything left to do. We're all caught up for a change... until Thomas gets wind of it, anyway," Harry added.

"He won't hear it from me," Severus said. "Oh well, welfare checks can also be fun on occasion," he decided.

"This really is a holiday for you," Harry said, chuckling with exasperation.

"Well, it wouldn't have been my first pick, but I'll admit it is entertaining in its own way, and a good change of pace. Seeing Jennifer and Flyer Wright go head to head was particularly amusing," Severus added for good measure. "And I appreciate the opportunity to work with Jennifer under any conditions where we can equally support each other's weaknesses and accentuate our strengths. It also gave us a chance to hone our skills when it comes to working together, which frankly, we really don't do often enough."

"There it is," Harry said with a knowing smile. "I suspected that's what you came over to talk to me about."

"Actually, I came over to see what the next capture was on your list," Severus informed him. "But it would appear that you want to talk about it. It's still hanging over you, isn't it?"

"You mean what happened to Audi and Moody? Yeah, I guess it is," Harry admitted.

"No," Severus said so sharply that Harry looked up at his serious expression in surprise. "That is the excuse; the excuse you give us, and the one you tell yourself, but it is not the real reason. The true answer is deeper than that," he explained, leaning on Harry's chair so that he could lower his voice. "Because the fact of the matter is that losing two Aurors is devastating whether they are romantically involved or not. Losing Tonks and Garvan would be devastating, or Mike and Aurelius, or Jamie and Jennifer. Throw any two names you like, they would all be equally devastating," Severus pointed out. "And, since that is the case, there must be a deeper fear that goes beyond that occurrence that you've not been able to put a finger on. All you've known is that you have always had a very bad feeling about putting couples together from the moment you took over the department. Is that so?"

"Yeah," Harry admitted.

"Only it's not really couples that you're worried about," Severus informed him bluntly. "You're not really worried about losing couples. You are worried about losing parents," he explained.

Severus grew quiet, giving Harry a few moments for that to sink in. Harry gazed out at the other Aurors with a frown as most of them gathered with their partners and friends, such as Natalie and Garvan, who were sitting near Eben, Jamie, and Owain. Jennifer was in deep in conversation with Aurelius in a way that told Harry they were probably talking on more than one level. She glanced over and smiled at them warmly when she noticed them looking in her direction.

"If you don't mind my saying so, Harry, you have very little to worry about," Severus finally continued. "After all, you now have the largest, most trustworthy, and most loyal pack of Aurors that's ever been under you, or that I have ever known. And there is not one among them who would ever turn their backs on a child who lost their parents on their watch. Not a single one," Severus informed him solemnly, then went over to sit next to Jennifer.

Harry inhaled deeply and let it out, taking a long drawn-out drink to finish off the glass in his hand before finally sitting it down. Then he stood up and walked in front of the fireplace to get their attention.

"It was a great capture today, and it took everyone's efforts to get those thugs broke up," Harry said.

"Yeah. We know already," Hope said, coming back over with a fresh glass in hand.

"And some of you also know that one of the reasons I let Severus and Jennifer team up together, other than it being stupid to say no to them in general, is because I've been debating that old rule about keeping couples and family members from being Auror partners... which... now that I look back on it... was probably pretty stupid, especially in those early days when I really didn't have enough Aurors to be that picky," Harry admitted. "I already rescinded the family members rule a while ago when we started to pick up so many Willowbys that it made it unfeasible. Starting now, I'm getting rid of the other rule too," he said, a murmur of approval going up. "If anyone has personal concerns or doesn't feel comfortable having their life partner as their Auror partner, then I'll make sure you're not scheduled together. But if you think that partnering with your life partner will make you a better Auror, don't hesitate to speak up."

"Us! Pick us!" Jamie jumped up and down immediately, then went over to where Owain was sitting and wrapped her arms around him. Hope was busy holding up Eben's fist and her other hand, while Garvan and Natalie paused their murmuring when Harry looked over.

"We're going to take time to discuss it," Garvan said when he saw the scrutiny.

"Take your time," Harry said, looking back over to where Jennifer and Severus were sitting. Severus nodded knowingly to him, while Jennifer rewarded Harry with a warm smile.