A/N New on the block, Relative Dimension Podcast will be reading chapters of Jennifer Craw and the Phoenix Wand on twitch for the 20ith anniversary on a (relatively) weekly basis and the chapters will soon be available as a podcast. More details to follow at a later date. ~DQ

Chapter Two

Working Holiday

Jennifer had gone out of her way to make a large breakfast that morning; it was the first time that summer that everyone was home. Quintin and Rus had just gotten back from camp the day before and were about to start on a new adventure. Jay was looking forward to getting back to his summer training program, and frowned when he saw how carried away his grandmother had gotten with breakfast.

"Can I just have toast? I really don't want to be late. Besides, I think all of this food might weigh me down on the obstacle course," Jay reasoned.

"Oh, nonsense! Having a full breakfast for a change will probably give you more energy," Jennifer said, then glanced at the head of the table. "Isn't that right, Severus?"

"I have no opinion on the topic, other than to point out to Jay that you're unlikely to get out of here on time if you upset your grandmother. It is probably within your best interests to cooperate," Severus advised.

"Fine," Jay said with a sigh, sitting down.

"Severus, Seren looks a bit wobbly in her seat. Is she using her booster seat?" Jennifer asked, pouring herself some coffee.

"No, she is hovering with her knees bumping the table," Severus confirmed unconcernedly. Jennifer listened for footsteps on the stairs and then peered out of the kitchen door.

"Quintin, could you get your sister's booster chair?" she called out.

"I'm on it, Mum!" Quintin said. Behind him, Rus was working his way down much more slowly.

"Rus! Let's not be all day about it! Breakfast is ready, and you have a big day ahead of you, you know!" Jennifer called out to him.

"Can't this wait a day? I doubt Hadrian will care if I'm one day late getting started..." Rus suggested.

"No, it certainly cannot wait a day! You're already obligated, and I won't have your cousin put out when it's supposed to be your first day training for your new job. You are going whether you like it or not," Jennifer said firmly. She shook her head and returned to the dining room just as Quintin stepped in with the booster seat for Serendipity, helping her into it. Jay glanced in his direction, then did a double-take.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Jay asked Quintin flatly.

"Jay, be nice," Jennifer scolded. But Jay kept staring at Quintin and his outrageous green suit with short pants until Quintin sat down at the table.

"It's my uniform, of course. I don't like it either, but there's a dress code and this is the standard uniform," Quintin said.

"I'm sure it's a standard uniform for goblins," Jay said critically. "It actually looks good on them... but you I'm not so sure about."

"He's far from the first person in this family who has had to adhere to goblin standards. Both Corey and Fortuna had summer jobs with the goblins as well," Severus pointed out.

"Yes, and it's a very special honor to be chosen as one of Gribitz apprentices. He's quite particular," Jennifer added for good measure.

"I'm sure it's an honor for a goblin, but I know some people aren't all that keen on wizards being goblin apprentices, or vice-versa," Jay said, then gazed over at Quintin. "You're going to be harassed."

"I know. Corey and I already talked about it," Quintin replied. "But I think it's going to be fun despite that. Gribitz has been asking about me for ages, hasn't he, Mum?

"Well, yes, but I certainly wasn't going to let you take on this sort of responsibility until you were ready for it," Jennifer said.

"Yes, what about that? Isn't he still too young to get a job?" Jay asked.

"Apprenticeships of this sort are considered an educational experience rather than a job, in the same way that you were able to go to officer's training early," Jennifer explained. "Speaking of which, you'd best concentrate on your breakfast... oh, drat! There's the post! No, Radiance, I'm not dratting you, simply the timing. You're a very good girl for bringing it down," she reassured her familiar as she went to the kitchen window to retrieve the letters.

"Anything good in there?" Rus asked with anticipation as she went through it.

"As a matter of fact, there are two International Posts in the mix... one from Sissy, and one from your mother and stepfather," Jennifer reported.

"Can I read them at the table?" Rus asked. Jay sighed.

"If you're planning on reading them out loud, do you mind doing Sissy's first? I really must be going soon, and I'd rather hear hers," Jay said, then began eating quickly.

"It's alright, Rus. I wouldn't mind hearing about how Sissy is doing as well," Jennifer said when Rus frowned critically at her brother. "She had a scholarship to attend the Euro Wizard's orchestra youth program, didn't she?"

"Yes, and she was really worried about her German. She didn't know any words at all past guten tag," Rus said, accepting the post and opening it. "'Dear Rus, I hope you are well and had fun at summer camp. Have you started your new job yet? I am doing well, although I'm sure it won't surprise you to learn that my German is as rotten as ever. Fortunately, my new instructor has very good English and has been helping me learn it little by little. My first instructor here spoke very little English and I struggled at first, but as it happened, my sponsor suggested that I change instruments, and therefore I changed instructors as well. Frau Klein advised me to switch from violin to viola, because I would have a much better shot at getting in if I wanted to try making it my career path. Part of me still wants to learn how to craft instruments instead of playing them, but since I can't make up my mind, I've decided to let fate do it for me. I have taken her advice and switched to viola. I will continue to go to the yearly auditions until I graduate, but if I fail to get in, I will see about pursuing an apprenticeship in charmed violin making or perhaps contribute music on a more local level. Don't worry, Rus. I am not losing confidence. I still plan to do my best, but it is really hard not to compare myself to the other students going to school here. Even so, I still feel it is a shame that your brother isn't pursuing music. I really do think his playing would put most of these students in their place. Please write soon to let me know how you're doing this summer. Your friend, Sissy'," Rus finished.

"If she thinks my playing can best the other students, I doubt she'll have any trouble getting a position playing the viola. I play for recreation," Jay commented firmly.

"Recreation or not, even Dale says you're the best violinist he's ever heard either in class or when he was in college, and he isn't just saying that because he's your uncle," Jennifer said.

"The fact that he plays for recreation might be why it is so impactful. Jay's playing contains a passion that other performers lack," Severus offered.

"Passion isn't the right word for it. Anyway, I really ought to be going. Commander Bellamy said he wanted to see me before training today," Jay said.

"Yes, alright. Have a good day!" Jennifer replied, and Jay got up, taking only a moment to wash his hands before heading out with his cloak in hand.

"Before I read Mum's letter, can I ask something about Sissy's letter, Grandfather?" Rus asked. "It's a philosophical question really, about Free Will."

"Yes?" Severus asked curiously.

"Sissy spends a lot of time in this letter talking about what she's decided to do, but when it comes to what she does in life, she said she's going to let Fate decide. So I am wondering, if you decide to let Fate decide, is it Fate or is it Free Will?"

"Choosing your Fate makes it both Fate and Free Will at the same time, and they are always strongest when they are working together," Severus replied. "Of course, there will be times when you can use your Free Will to change your Fate, and there are times when Fate derails all of your decisions and forces you to make new decisions. Most of the time, however, we're teetering in the middle, bouncing back and forth with our Free Will influencing Fate's direction, and Fate's direction influencing Free Will... close to and yet very rarely reaching a state of Equilibrium. In a way, choosing one's Fate is an attempt to reach that Equilibrium... a time when both forces are working together to reach the desired outcome. That doesn't mean, however, that you shouldn't fight against Fate or even against Free Will for that matter, when one of them is leading your life in the wrong direction. As long as that fight is meaningful, of course, and that you're not simply fighting Fate or Free Will because the other exists. That sort of battle never ends well, regardless of which one you're fighting."

"Who would fight against Free Will?" Quintin asked curiously.

"Mirage certainly did, as did the majority of first generation Dark Fae who had been condemned when they turned against their kingdom after their princess fell in love with a human," Severus pointed out. "Not to mention the centaurs in the Dark Forest. They fought Free Will for years."

"Yes, but to be fair, Severus, in the end, the centaurs were actually fighting against Fate more than Free Will," Jennifer interrupted. "The Constellation of the Dark Forest were Fated to change and adapt to better serve the forest, and their fight nearly brought both that constellation and the forest to ruin because of it."

"A fair point. They did change sides in the end, didn't they?" Severus mused, and Jennifer nodded to him.

"Does that mean that the centaurs are actually somewhere in the middle now?" Quintin wanted to know.

"They are still a race of Fate just as they've ever been, but they have finally acknowledged that despite their efforts, the rest of the world has changed. Their exposure to other Constellations have given them insight on how far they had strayed from the path of other centaurs and realized that there was room in their star readings for more modern interpretations," Severus explained. "In a way, it opened a very large window for them; they do not take for granted that a certain start pattern means the same now as it did a century ago, and are more open to alternative opinions. They question the meaning of things more, and are more willing to listen and take advice both from each other and members of other constellations. The exchange has been good for them in more ways than one; the Dark Forest Constellation had been slowly dying off before they reconnected to outside constellations. While they're behind the modern centaurs in many ways, the adjustments they've been making are helping them to come back from the brink. They are also better forest wardens than they have been in quite some time," Severus said, then he glanced at Jennifer. "You know, if I'm not mistaken, we should have a pair of centaurs enrolling in Hogwarts this year."

"Do you think so? Won't that be exciting!" Jennifer said brightly. "I didn't know if Arcadia and Sagittari were going to be enrolling them this year or next year. I know Sagittari wasn't all that certain on whether or not they were ready for formal wizard school yet."

"I have been advising him to go ahead for their daughter's sake. Starting them now gives her more time to adjust to school before she needs to be on preventative potions, and when I spoke to Arcadia on the matter last weekend, she informed me that her father had also been advising the same. I doubt that Sagittari will listen to me on the matter considering that Lyra is probably in the forefront of his mind right now, but Thereus is another story. I am fairly certain that Sagittari will listen to his father-in-law's opinion on this. He is not only a good leader, but truly understands how to navigate both the modern world and the centaur world respectively," Severus replied. Jennifer nodded at that.

"But what if the stars say they shouldn't go this year?" Rus asked. "Would they still be allowed to go to school?"

"Most definitely not," Severus admitted. "I don't think Sagittari would be willing to take that chance, and frankly, neither would I."

"Well, what if the stars say that I shouldn't get a job until next year?" Rus asked brightly.

"Then you are out of luck, because you are going anyway," Severus said firmly, and Rus' shoulders slumped. "Jennifer, who is that letter from Alexandria addressed to?"

"Oh, it's addressed to Rus and Jay," Jennifer said, handing it to Rus. "You have just enough time to read it before you need to clean up for work."

"Okay, okay," Rus said sheepishly, opening the letter and reading it. "'We have finished our backpacking tour of France and have taken the train to Switzerland. The trains here are fantastic and have amazing views. I have taken several photos of the trains we've been riding on so you can see them, Jay, because I think you will be pretty impressed. The mountain lakes are also very pretty, and I wouldn't mind finding a location to set up a place for my flat so that we can visit as a family. Next we are heading north on the train through Germany, making several stops on the way to Denmark. We are thinking of spending our last weekend at Tivoli Gardens and want to know if you would like to join us to enjoy it together. What do you think? If you want to go, let us know. I'm sure we can ask your Uncle Pyther or Aunt Alicia to drop you off. See you soon, Mum.' Do you think it'd be alright for me to take off that weekend to go?" Rus asked.

"Of course, since it's for a special occasion," Jennifer replied.

"I wonder if Jay will want to go?" Rus asked out loud, despite already knowing the answer.

"He should be shown the letter and given the invitation whether we think he'll accept or not," Jennifer replied. "He needs to know that regardless of how he feels at the moment, he is considered a member of the family."

"Yes, I know," Rus replied solemnly.

"Are we going to have a chance to do something fun too?" Quintin complained. "We're getting ready to go to work, and yet you're taking the boat out without us."

"We're going to Lupin Island to visit Laura and little Sabina. I'm sure you'd be frightfully bored," Jennifer pointed out, but then sighed. "Yes, alright, I suppose it wouldn't be fair for Rus to go off to Denmark while you get stuck here. We'll think of something for an outing, likely on Sunday, since you don't have to work on Sundays."

"Great!" Quintin said with a grin, then the two of them got ready for work.

As Jennifer and Seren got ready for their trip, Rus Apparated to Hogsmeade while Severus escorted Quintin to Diagon Alley, stopping only a moment or two to make sure that Quintin was settled before heading home again.

"You will start by learning how to polish the cases and woodwork, Mr. Snape," Gribitz told him.

Gribitz was on older goblin, with gnarled skin and tuffs as hair coming out of this ears and out of the top of his head. But Quintin had known the old clockmaker all of his life, and the two had been privately fascinated with each other from the time that Quintin was old enough to tiptoe up to the display case and point out one of the wrist watches was three seconds too slow.

"Polish the cases, got it. Where are the supplies?" Quintin asked, hoping to make a good impression.

"Under this cabinet. And don't waste any polish! Waste is money!" Gribitz said, shaking a finger at him.

"Understood!" Quintin said and got straight to work.

Gribitz sighed at his first attempt and showed him how to do it. Quintin listened and watched intently, copying as precisely as he could. Grunting softly at Quintin's enthusiasm, Gribitz went back to work.

After Quintin was done, he had to do the floors. After that, a ten minute break, and then dusted all of the shelves in the back room. By the time his father had returned to collect him, he was quite beat.

"I'm not sure I'm cut out for this sort of work," Quintin grumbled tiredly.

"Are we channeling Jeremy now?" Severus queried critically. "I thought he was the lazy one."

"I'm not lazy! It was just a lot tougher than I thought it would be! I wasn't allowed anywhere near a single watch. All I did was clean all day," Quintin complained.

"Did you think it would be easy? Because I'm quite certain that you were warned that it wouldn't be," Severus reminded him. "How many times did you get yelled at today?"

"He didn't yell at me," Quintin said, and Severus blinked in surprise. "He just followed me around and said 'hm' a lot."

"If so, you have indeed impressed him," Severus replied seriously. "Work just as hard every time you go in. The better you do, the less time it will take before he is willing to teach you something else. Come along, we are eating at Lupin Island tonight."

"Really?" Quintin said, perking up a bit.

"We were not the only ones who came to visit today, so they decided to have a fish bake this evening," Severus explained. Quintin smiled at that, grabbing a hold of the offered key.

While it was hardly a family reunion, there were still enough Snapes around to make for a decent party, with several picnic tables and blankets spread out while Andrew and Zack roasted fish and jacket potatoes on a rustic grill made of stone and iron.

"It's not as good as your father's, but it does the job, and it gets a real workout when we're staying on the island," Andrew commented to Zack, while passing a plate over to Juliet.

"You've gotten really good at fish, that's for sure. It's pretty easy to mess up on the grill," Zack said.

"True, but my wife would give me a really hard time if I messed up a catch by burning them," Andrew admitted.

"You've got that right," Laura said from where she sat with her feet propped up next to Jennifer, who was holding the baby. That was when Severus arrived with Quintin, glancing about to get their bearings. Quintin smiled and walked over.

"Hello, newest Snape! Welcome to the family," Quintin said.

"Welcome to the horde," Juliet said dryly.

"Yes, that does seem to be the greatest drawback to having a large family... attempting to keep up with the generation after the first," Severus agreed.

"I think someone could do a who's who volume just on Snapes and Craws," Juliet teased.

"Add the Blacks to it too, while you're at it," Zack suggested.

"Then nobody would be able to pick it up," his wife replied.

"Yeah, okay good point. Ambrose, you'll have to make it a two volume set," Zack suggested. Severus glanced over to see Ambrose walk over with a lemonade.

"I'll write it as long as I can get Corey to recite it all for me," Ambrose said.

"That'd be cheating," Juliet decided, sitting down with her plate.

"Ambrose, I didn't know you were here as well," Severus said.

"I arrived just after you left. My father sent a Teledim and said that he would likely be bringing the Lupins home for a visit in the fall, and wanted me to pass it along so we had advance notice," Ambrose said.

"I am so excited!" Laura admitted happily. "I can't wait to finally introduce the girls to my parents! I've so missed having them around to show them off to!"

"That is going to be fun indeed," Jennifer agreed, handing the baby back to her mother.

"So I know Sabina is a Snape family name. Is her middle name a family name as well?" Juliet asked.

"Yes, Ambrosia is a Craw name," Andrew explained. "She was the name of Andrew Craw's mother, and had been ostracized for having a relationship with a Muggle. I thought it was time to set that right again, just like Mum did when she named me."

"Andrew named Sabina? That explains a lot," Lucky said. "I was wondering if there wasn't a hidden Jane Austin book I missed somewhere."

"There's nothing wrong with my girls' names," Laura protested. "But there can be no mistaking that Andrew named this one."

"We had to run out eventually..."

"We have not run out!" Laura protested.

"We'll name the next one Lydia," Andrew taunted.

"We'll do no such thing!" Laura said with a stern gaze.

"The last thing you two need is another girl," Juliet teased.

"I know, I know. Mum, do you know some way we can make sure it's a boy so we can stop already?" Andrew asked, only half joking.

"Personally, I think there's some providence involved," Aurelius said from where he sat in the toddler pen. "Andrew deserves to have all girls. Then he'll get to have ample worry about who their dating when their teenagers."

"You have no heart, Rel," Andrew protested.

"The Bennets had five daughters before they gave up," Laura said.

"Do you really want to have a Lydia?" Andrew challenged her.

"In this family? That's unlikely to happen. There are too many people who'd catch on to her misbehavior. Snapes are a very suspicious bunch," Laura said.

"That's because some of our kids really like to toe the line," Aurelius said.

"Speaking of which, how is Viorica these days, Rel?" Andrew asked.

"Oh, she's fine. She's working too much to get into trouble," Aurelius replied.

"Is she still dating Apollo?" Andrew asked.

"Yes, they're still together," Aurelius confirmed.

"Then how is he doing these days?" Andrew followed up.

Aurelius held up a finger and looked at his watch.

"Ask me again in another half an hour," Aurelius replied.

"Oh? How come?" Andrew asked in confusion.

"Press conference," Aurelius explained. "You're not burning the fish, are you?" Andrew quickly turned his attention back to the grill, promptly forgetting to bring the subject back up again.

It was difficult to tell who disliked press conference with Apollo Grey more... Apollo or the sport journalists. It was just so very hard to get him to say anything no matter what question was asked. Apollo would always respond using as few words as he felt he could get away with, and often replying with one word answers. Why did one of the most popular Quidditch players in the entire league have to be so inarticulate? Typically, Apollo bowed out of press conferences altogether, or let the coach do all the talking. But this time, Apollo Grey was front and center after the game, so attempting to get him to say something was inescapable. Still, there were good reasons for him to be there... and the reporters were certain the reason was to announce his contract extension.

"It was a good game, but how do you feel about the other two Chasers? They've been inconsistent so far. Do you think you'll make it to the playoffs?" one of the reporters questioned.

"I can count on them," Apollo decided.

"And are you going to be playing with England in the Northern Lights League?" asked a WIZ3 reporter.

"Yeah, I'm playing again," Apollo agreed.

"And have you renewed you contract with Puddlemere?" he continued.

"No," Apollo said simply.

All of the bored reporters suddenly woke up at once.

"You're not playing for United next year?" he asked for clarification. "Has someone offered you a better contract?"

"No," Apollo replied evenly. "I'm just not playing next year."

All of the reporters began talking at once, but finally they settled down.

"It's just that it's so sudden! Why have you decided to retire now at the height of your career!" a witch's voice from Wiznet News shouted out.

"It's not sudden. This was always my goal," Apollo shrugged. "I changed my majors in school so that I'd have the requirements to go into the Ministry as a Law Enforcer or an Auror. I had always planned just to play long enough to afford a house and investments enough to cover the taxes. Ministry work doesn't pay shit unless you're head of a department, you know. I'm not stupid enough to work there without banking some coin first," he informed them. "By the way, entry level public servants deserve a raise to adjust for the increase in living expenses. See you next game," he added as an afterthought, walking away from the shouting reporters attempting to get more clarification about his retirement.