"You can do this," said Cedric encouragingly.

The past month had been difficult. Between trying to honor Mad-Eye by continuing the resistance and adopting nearly a dozen children, Hermione never got a chance to call her parents. She had meant to, but she found out that the borders had been tightened up looking for the missing kids. At least the kids were settling in alright. She hoped. There was so much happening, Hermione didn't trust herself to know if everyone was actually doing okay, but she trusted Cedric and he assured her that they were. That they were happy and settling well, those who were able liked helping him with the animals. The others enjoyed the things they had to keep them occupied. Books, shows, games.

Thankfully, no one accused her of forgetting about Mad-Eye. She couldn't forget him. His death had happened, but so much happened with it that it really rang true that they were in the middle of a war. There wouldn't be time for mourning if anyone else died.

"Yeah, just gotta keep them updated," said Hermione, moving the love seat over so they'd both have a place to sit.

She had a new cut on her cheek from a battle. It had healed, but it was still an angry line on her skin. Her parents would note it. No sense wasting time, they had assured her they were gathered for a live call. Only her sister wouldn't be there, but she was still at school.

"Show me my parents," she said, tapping the mirror and grabbing a stress ball off the desk.

All her compacts had been connected to a larger mirror, she just had to touch the right one to reach the right person. It was a little messy, but she could still disconnect individual mirrors to carry them around.

Her reflection disappeared, replaced by a window to the living room of the house in Hawaii. Mum, Papá, Dad, and Mom were sitting around. Chibuzo was sitting on Beatrice's lap holding a stuffed dragon she got him and lit up.

"Hi, Mimi!" he said.

"Hello!" she smiled. "Look at you, you've gotten so big!"

"You're injured," said Manuia.

She sighed softly. "I'm always injured, Papí. Cedric's here, too."

"Hello," said Cedric, sitting down.

"The news has been reaching us," said Manuia. "Probably not as much, but I did hear something about borders closing."

"Yes, that does make it more difficult to move out refugees," said Hermione. "Thankfully we moved out quite a few but… I still worry."

Cedric rested a hand on hers. Tell them.

"Oh, right. I wanted to tell you guys something," she said and tried to remember what she rehearsed. She was going to ease into it, tell them the story leading up to adopting the kids, instead her mouth ran ahead of her brain and she said, "Congratulations, you are now grandparents."

"Hermione!"

Hana spat out her tea, Roger and Beatrice looked shocked, Manuia's eyes rolled back and he slumped against the couch.

"I'm not pregnant!" she said quickly. "Sorry. Cedric and I just accidentally adopted eleven children. Well, ten, I'm pretty sure Ceci and Tonks claimed Teddy. He toddles after them like a little duck and tries to copy their faces. It's so cute. He's a metamorphmagus. And Jamal is only four years younger than me, but he's had to be the adult for those kids for a while, so I think it's best to give him a break to be a kid."

"Herminia, how did you end up adopting all those kids?" asked Hana.

"Adopting," Manuia repeated and sat up, seeming to finally take a breath. "Okay. Okay, auē kid, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Of age or not, you're still a teenager. So, how did this happen?"

She explained everything about the orphanage and what she worried Voldemort had planned for the kids.

"They've accepted the existence of magic fairly easily," said Hermione. "It hasn't been easy, but we have a routine."

A knock came at the door and Willow poked her head in.

"Hey, Mum?" she said.

Abigail was the first kid to start calling her and Cedric Mum and Dad, after Fred made a joke that Hermione and Cedric were the parents of this household and should be referred to as such, regardless of age. The others followed suit except for Jamal, though she was sure he caught himself once or twice.

"What's up, Will?" she asked.

"Can we have pizza for dinner?" she asked.

"Pizza? Pizza…" Hermione took out the budget and ran a finger down that month's spending. "Yes, I think we can swing pizza. Do you want to meet my parents?"

Willow looked surprised and a little uneasy, she didn't decline, however, and instead walked over to look into the mirror.

"This is one of my kids," said Hermione. "Willow. Willow, these are my parents. Four of them anyway. Hana, Manuia, Roger, and Beatrice. And that's my little brother Chibuzo. My little sister, Amalea, is still in school."

"Nice to meet you," said Beatrice kindly.

As they spoke and her parents asked questions, Hermione put together a sheet to find out who wanted what pizza, the options being cheese, pepperoni, and mushroom again. She tied a pen down with a bit of string to the clipboard.

"Willow, can you take this around to everyone and have them put a checkmark by the flavor they want?" she asked.

"Okay," she said and scurried off.

"She seems sweet," said Hana. "So you think you can handle raising ten kids, Nia?"

"Well, it's not all by myself," she said. "Everyone who lives at Rosehill has been helping. Villages and all that. Cedric and I just have supreme authority on all matters. Like pizza for dinner."

"Just don't overextend yourself," said Beatrice. "I worry about you, Mimi. Just how did you even get that cut on your cheek?"

Hermione touched it lightly. "Hijacked a train."

"You don't have to hide things," said Roger. "We may not be happy that you're the leader of a rebellion, but you can at least keep us in the loop."

"So we know how tall to make your tower when you come home," Beatrice teased.

Hermione smiled slightly. "Like I said, we hijacked a train. A close source told us the routes of magical imports. So we hijacked a train that was filled with some stuff the Death Eaters wanted and we stole it all, leaving a post-it note with a smily face in its place."

"What sort of things?" asked Manuia.

"Potion ingredients for one," said Cedric.

"Wood for wands. Textiles. Food," said Hermione. "We've been stealing a lot of food from them. We redistribute it to the magical families, it's more to disrupt the economy. If we give it away for free, then they can't hold goods and services hostage in return for loyalty. I don't know how much good it'll do in the long run, but I don't want us to go down in history as people who made things worse for everyone else." She plunked her chin in her hand. "I just don't know how long we can keep it up for. We know where one is, but it's near impossible to get to."

"How impossible?" asked Hana.

Hermione brought out the "artists rendition" Cedric drew of Little Hangleton and held it up.

"Oh…"

"That would take the best cursebreakers in the world months to crack," said Hana.

"And we don't have months," said Cedric. "I'd say we have fifteen minutes at the most and that's just how long our average fighter can hold out for."

"If only I studied wards," Hana sighed. "I didn't even set up ours here, my friend Jung-Ho had to do it. Maybe I'll call him up and ask what he thinks."

"Good idea," said Hermione.

"Olá!" a voice called. "I'm home."

"Bernie! We have Nia on the phone," said Manuia.

Bernice appeared in view of the mirror and grinned. She looked great. She had new frames for her glasses and was wearing polka dot scrubs.

"Hey, just get off your shift at the hospital?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I like being in the pharmacy best," she said. "But they really want all interns to be able to do examinations and other things regardless of their career trajectory."

"Yeah, most magic hospitals are like that," said Hermione. "Good thing I've become a jack-of-all-trades. Cedric and I accidentally adopted eleven kids, so it's good to be able to be a nurse and seamstress and cook. Takes care of a big chunk of child-rearing."

Bernice laughed. "I'm not surprised that happened to you. I mean, crazy things always happen to you. I hope I can meet them all one day."

"Yes, me too," said Hermione.

She spoke with everyone a little bit longer until she had to go get dinner organized.

"I'll keep you updated," said Hermione. "I love you all."

"Love you too, sweetness," said Manuia.

She disconnected after her parents expressed similar sentiments and leaned back in her chair with a soft sigh. Cedric put an arm around her and kissed her temple.

"That wasn't so bad," she said. "Pretty sure Papá's soul left him for a second there. Not sure why though, I'm nineteen, I'm an adult."

"Yeah, but you're still his daughter," Cedric reasoned. "And he hasn't had all that much time with you since you were four, so it's probably tough for him to grasp that you are an adult with a partner."

"At least their reasoning wasn't that I wasn't married," she said. "I hate when people act like that's a requirement for kids. I was born out of wedlock, it's not shameful or wrong it's just the way things happened."

"Yeah, I know," he said.

Hermione caught herself in the mirror and frowned. She looked like hell. Her eyes were puffy from lack of sleep, more than half her hair was coming in white, and she had so many scars she looked like bloody Edward Scissorhands. Beauty was not a signifier of worth and all that stuff people didn't really believe, but she hated how much her hardships physically showed on her. A constant reminder rather than be something she could tuck away in the stacks of her mind library or whatever the people had in Dreamcatcher.

"You're hella fine," said Cedric.

She snorted and looked at him. "You don't have to be nice."

"You calling me a liar?" he challenged.

"I ain't calling you a truther!"

He snorted and kissed her temple. "At least believe that I will always find you very, very attractive."

"Even when I'm covered in blood and grime?"

"I mean, you're hot when you're being a badass," he said. "You just want me to say nice things about you, don't you?"

She pantomimed casting a fishing line and reeling it in. Cedric scooted closer. Hermione threw the sheet over the mirror so in case someone called they wouldn't get the image of her boyfriend kissing up her neck burned into their brains.

"Tes yeux, j'en rêve jour et nuit," he murmured in her ear.

"That's French," she breathed.

"Oui."

A knock came at the door and Ron poked his head in awkwardly. Cedric dropped his head to her shoulder.

"Erm… the kids are asking when dinner is," he said. "Also, can I borrow your library for a bit? The one downstairs doesn't have what I need."

"Yeah, alright," she said, standing up. "What are you working on?"

"Just seeing if there's a way to track horcruxes," he said. "Like enchanting a compass."

"Oh! Never thought of that," she said. "Have at it. If you want to leave with a book, just mark it down on that clipboard on the wall."

He nodded and put on his yellow-tinted specs to start perusing.

"It's too bad there's no way to cancel out magic," he said. "Then we could get the Little Hangleton horcrux."

Hermione paused and furrowed her brow.

"Say that again," she said.

"What?"

"What you just said, repeat it."

"Er… it's too bad there's no way to cancel out magic?" he repeated. "Then we could get the Little Hangleton horcrux."

Hermione screamed, sending Cedric backwards and Ron hurtling into the bookcase. She ran over to the brown books and pulled the Hunter's journal off the shelf.

"Cancel magic!" she said, holding it up. "Cancel magic!"

"I don't— OH!" Cedric gasped. "Cancel magic."

"Yeah, cancel magic," said Ron, looking irritated at being out of the loop.

Hermione flipped through the book to a runic circle and handed it to Ron. She had read through the whole thing and wasn't exactly sure how the Hunter had cancelled the magic, but this seemed like the option that made the most sense. She was just too nervous to test it, but Ron was better at Ancient Runes than she was and had more education on it than she had. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the page.

His eyes widened.

"HOLY SHIT!" he gasped.

"Shit!"

They looked at the door to see Chandra standing there looking all adorable with a toy lizard from Fred and George that changed colors when it was hugged.

"Don't say that word, sweetie," said Cedric. "That's a word only grown ups are allowed to use."

"Okay, Daddy. When's dinner?"

Right, dinner.

"Ron, I'm putting you in charge of this for now," she said. "Figure out how it works and if we can recreate it on a large scale. I'll help, I just need to worry about dinner first."

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll ask Padma to help, she's good at Runes."

"Alright." She herded Chandra out of her room and looked around the house for Willow before realizing she wouldn't be able to see her. She drew her wand and held it to her throat to amplify her voice. "Willow to the foyer, Willow to the foyer, please."

Willow hurried into the foyer with the clipboard, she looked frightened.

"Everything okay?" Hermione asked.

"Aren't I in trouble?"

"No. Of course not, I just didn't know where you were. Did you get the pizza orders from everyone?"

"Yes." She held out the clipboard.

"Thank you so much." Hermione took it and ran over the numbers. "Alright, and everyone is getting two slices, plus they have to eat veggies with it. I had better put together a veggie tray while we wait for the pizza to be ready. Do you want to pick a movie for tonight, Will?"

"I can?"

"Sure, you were a big help. I really appreciate you doing this. Hey, why are you crying?"

"No reason. You're just… so nice and your parents are nice and everyone here is just really nice."

Hermione held out her arms for a hug. Willow crashed into her. She really hadn't had it easy, had she? None of them had. Of course, Hermione was once in all their places. Not for as long as most of them, but she had. And when cruelty is all you know, you don't know how to react when someone is being kind. Sure they had each other and there was probably a nice volunteer or teacher, but that didn't make up for the abuse. Well, she could at least make sure that these kids at least had a good home life from now on.

Cedric came down and furrowed his brow. Hermione passed over the clipboard. He nodded and went to the phone in the kitchen to order the pizza. Willow stopped crying when he came back and scrubbed her cheek.

"Let's get you some water," said Hermione, patting her shoulder.

Once Willow was sipping a cool glass of water, Hermione tapped her bracelet to call for a lunch meeting tomorrow. Mostly because she didn't want to cook everyone breakfast or order enough pizza for all the Weather people.

Neville had harvested some very beautiful looking veg that morning, so she washed it up and chopped up most of it for salad while the rest was going on a veggie tray. Willow helped her with the lettuce using the metal taco Hana had made for Cedric to chop it up. That summer felt so long ago. Four years wasn't that long. She was Jamal's age then. Her youth hit her like a truck, she couldn't imagine how the older Weather members felt having to take orders from a teenager.

"Hey, those are for dinner!" said Willow.

Hermione turned around to see Jamal, Micah, and Marcus descending on one of the veggie trays dipping carrot, celery, and cucumber sticks into the tub of homemade dip.

"Hey, you find it, you eat it," she said, opening the fridge to get out more. "I'm not gonna stop kids from eating their vegetables."

"Hey, Mum—" Jamal stopped short and looked embarrassed.

"What's up?"

"Er, Nia," he said. "Can I go with you to get the pizza? I feel like I'm going crazy here."

She nodded. "Yeah, we'll have to put a brace on you, pretend that your crutches are for a broken leg or injured knee, but you can come. I think the heat has died down enough I can take you kids out one or two at a time. It's probably just to the park, library, or grocery store, though."

"We'll take what we can get," said Marcus, scooping up some dripping dip with the only finger on his right hand. "Old Smith wouldn't even let us go anywhere except to school. We got in a lot of trouble if we left the home, especially when it became the group home for 'special' children. My group home before Wool's gave us a curfew, but we could go places. Not that any of us had any money."

"Well, when the war is over and we make everyone forget you lot got abducted you'll have more freedom," she said. "Believe me, I feel trapped too. I'd like to be able to go outside as myself and not have to look over my shoulder. Actually go on a date with my partner for once."

"You should get to go on a date," said Harry, entering the kitchen and grabbing a carrot stick off the platter. "If you and Ced want to go out for a few hours, we can hold down the fort."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying this because you care for the health of my relationship or because you want some time without my micromanaging?"

"Both." He grinned at her expression. "Anyway, what's the meeting about?"

"You'll find out tomorrow," she sang. "It's easier to tell everyone at once, that way nothing gets misconstrued. Though I'm pretty sure Ron will tell you anyway if you ask since he's in charge of the project."

"Yeah? Okay, I'll go find him!" Harry turned around and bumped into Daphne. "Oh! Hi."

"Hello, Harry," said Daphne.

Guess he was still sweet on her. Well, Hermione wouldn't meddle in any relationships. Those days were far behind her.

"Daph, want to come pick up pizza with us?" she asked.

"Yeah, alright," she said, taking an apple out of the fruit bowl.

Cedric would stay home to keep the kids organized. When the time to pick up the pizza came, Hermione took Jamal and Willow with her and they took Bug into town.

"Holidays are coming up," said Hermione, turning the volume down on the radio. "Jamal, Willow, what do you usually do for holidays? Does everyone celebrate Christmas or…"

"Well… we're aware of it," said Jamal. "The Salvation Army usually makes a big show of asking us what we want for Christmas and making a list and sending it out, but we don't actually get anything except some cheap crap from the pound store. Not sure if they're stealing the gifts or if Mrs. Smith turned them down, but then… why all the formality?"

"Get your hopes up and dash them?" Hermione asked. "Can't have kids in the system get too happy; they might start having hopes and dreams and we can't have that."

"Was it really that awful?" Daphne asked.

"Yes," Hermione, Willow, and Jamal chorused.

Sure, some kids might find foster homes that they could be happy in or even get adopted, but the government rarely cared about the disenfranchised, so funding was low.

"I think we all celebrate Christmas," said Jamal. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, December 20th is Ramadan, so Badeea let me know what she'll need for the month," said Hermione. "Hanukkah starts on the 14th of December. Lee wants to have a big party with games and stuff to celebrate. Daphne you okay with that?"

"Sure," she said. "I'll get you my mum's brisket recipe and we can teach the kids about it. I'm a bit too old to play dreidel but they're not."

"Okay," said Hermione, nodding. "And you don't have to join in the Christmas festivities if you're uncomfortable with it. Badeea said she'll socialize but she doesn't want gifts or anything."

"Yeah, I don't need gifts," said Daphne. "Though… I'll probably get one or two anyway, my birthday is on the 25th."

"Do any of the kids believe in Santa?" Hermione asked Willow and Jamal.

"No," said Willow. "Not anymore if they ever did."

"Okay, good, cause despite magic being real there is not a man who keeps children under constant surveillance and then breaks into their homes to leave stuff based on behavior."

Jamal snorted and Willow giggled.

"Still, I'd like you kids to open up something," she said. "So if I can get a list, I'll see what can be done. Would that be alright?"

"Yeah, okay," said Jamal. "Will we… erm… have a tree?"

"Sure. My country loves Christmas," she said. "My family usually does a paper tree, but we can also do a fun project and make charamicos. We can go out and collect branches and paint them white and make a bunch of ornaments and decorations to go on them. It'll be a project. My family also typically picks a few names out of a bag for the gift exchange. And children usually open presents on Día de los Reyes. It might also be a good time to do some deep cleaning for the New Year."

"Sure," said Jamal. "Aren't you an orphan?"

"Well, no," she said. "I was stolen from my family. My papá is still alive and lives in Hawaii."

"Stolen?" gasped Willow. "Why?"

"I saw something I shouldn't have," she said and sighed. "Magic. They never bothered to find out if I was already aware of its existence. My mamá died in a car crash and I was rescued from it by a wizard. Cedric's father, actually. But my memory was wiped and so… I didn't get them back until I was fourteen."

"Oh…" said Jamal. "So that 'blivate stuff they were talking about…"

"Yes. Don't worry, I won't let that happen to you," she said firmly. "Memories are precious. Even the hurtful ones you might wish to forget are important. Anyway, I went ten years without knowing I had a family before waking up in that hospital. So… I haven't really had all that much time with them, so if our celebrations seem a bit like a hodgepodge… that's why. In Hawaii, my Papí does a barbecue, in D.R. we go to mass and have a big dinner, and Mum and Dad, Roger and Beatrice I mean, well we would go somewhere on holiday because they didn't get along with their parents. I suppose we can just do a bunch of different things and you can pick your favorites to focus on for next year."

Willow mumbled something.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Rice pudding," she said. "That's… my mum used to make rice pudding for Christmas morning."

"Rice pudding, I think we can manage that," she said. "And you know between the 24th of December and the 6th of January there's a lot we can do."

"You don't have to try so hard," Jamal huffed.

"Kinda do," said Daphne. "I might not celebrate Christmas… neither does Padma, but she does have Lohri and Harry mentioned his parents were celebrating Diwali when… well, anyway, there are a lot of different holidays and this is as much for us adults. We're in a war, remember, and it's hard to want to celebrate anything but we have to try."

"Exactly," said Hermione quietly. "Do you want to wait by the car while we get the pizza?"

"Yeah," said Jamal.

"No," said Willow.

Hermione got out and headed inside. Willow grabbed onto her hand as if she were scared that she'd turn around and find she was all alone.

"I like that you try," she said. "Jamal and I… it's hard enough getting adopted when you become a teenager. And nobody wants a kid they think is going to be trouble."

"Most people," said Hermione. "Though, I think my family are of the rare sort."

She paid for the pizza with some of the cash she intended to pay for the kids' things that they ended up stealing. She was more unnerved by the fact that she didn't care about the theft more than she was from the fact that they stole from a second-hand store.

Oh well.

Back home, she was disgruntled to find that the vegetables she had cut up to go with dinner were already devoured and made it known that the pizza was it and if anyone was still hungry after their rations they were on their own.

She made sure Cedric had twice the amount he normally claimed he was alright eating. The full moon was approaching and she knew how much it took out of him. After putting on a movie, she went upstairs to her room to message her parents, aunts, and Sirius. After some thought, she added Viktor since he was used to organizing holidays with the shelter he opened up and often had deals with local shops. She now had a notebook that she could connect others to and keep messages in a closed loop.

The downside was that once she disconnected them the messages were lost forever, but nothing was perfect.

I know we talked recently, but the holidays are coming up and I'd like a favor if possible. Can you help me come up with gifts for the kids to open? It doesn't have to be a lot but I'd like at least three per child. Something fun, something practical, something they can cherish for a long time seems like a good start. I've been trying to think of what I received when I was first adopted but I don't think purchasing eleven puppies is a good idea.

They don't need a puppy anyway, they have Cedric.

Ha, ha.

Most of our resources are going towards keeping the rebellion afloat without causing trouble for the people who want to stay out of it. I'm already making them cloaks, but it doesn't really seem fair to make that a gift when they don't have coats to begin with. Perhaps it is… what do you think?

Sirius, I know you'd be able to pass gifts along with our Vanishing Chest. I'll be sending gifts for you to pass out. Which reminds me, do you have Stephen Squawking? He hasn't come home and I'm worried something happened to him.

Tía Manola wrote back right away.

We have Stephen Squawking. He was injured. We won't allow him to return to you until things are settled.

She didn't respond about the gifts yet.

"Love?"

She looked up at Cedric. "Hey, just thinking about the holidays and the horcruxes."

Cedric smiled slightly. "Did Lockhart finally manage to put out a new book?"

She wanted to laugh but it didn't bubble up like usual. She looked back down at her notebook to see words being written. She didn't read them yet.

Cedric kissed her temple and wrapped his arms around her.

"You don't always have to have a plan ready," he said. "Everyone knows you're a capable leader."

She hummed, not really believing him.

"What would you like to happen?"

"Well, we have to figure out if we can make the circle big enough to encompass Little Hangleton," she said. "If there's an inferi pit, we want them to stay dead."

"Of course."

"We grab the horcrux. Bring it back here. We dispose of it," she rattled off. "If we can cancel the magic in a specific area we need enough space to stay out of range of spells. If they get brave and decide to fight without magic then everyone who is going needs to be trained in weaponry or hand-to-hand combat. We might need all hands on deck with this one. Every able-bodied Weather person. Especially if the horcrux is still difficult to get to. I wouldn't put it past him to have non-magic protocols set up specifically to counter me."

"Yeah. Well, we'll talk to everyone and see what we can come up with," said Cedric. "This is probably going to take months to fine tune. No improvisation."

She nodded and Cedric lifted his head and ran out of the room, clearly hearing something she didn't. She looked down at the notes to see who had written. She recognized their handwriting well and knew who was who.

Manola: You know when Tía Delfina said you would have a dozen children one day, I thought she was teasing or her Sight was off. She has been wrong before, not all predictions come true.

Beatrice: We are all a little shocked. Manny and Roger are crying and swapping stories about Hermione when she was little.

How embarrassing. Hermione pressed her palm to her forehead.

To be honest, it feels more like a long-term babysitting job, but it hasn't been that long. The kids all call me 'Mum' and Cedric 'Dad' but so do half the Weather people. Well, some of them refer to Cedric as the Mum and me the Dad, since Cedric is far more nurturing than I am. Plus, he looks cuter in a dress.

Manola: Funny. Well, the triplets have grown out of a lot of their toys. I can't believe they're nine years old!

Nine? That couldn't be right… They were five in 1994 and had an October birthday. Hermione counted on her fingers. It was 1998…

"Huh…" she said.

Time flies, she wrote.

Manola: We'll be the angels to those kids and make sure they have a bunch of presents to open. Clothes, shoes, toys, things for their rooms.

Sirius: I'll be happy to pass along everything. Molly is knitting like crazy. Hope the kids like fudge.

No, pecans. We learned the hard way Chandra has an allergy to tree nuts.

Hana: Amalea never got rid of her toys before going off to school. I'll ask if we can give you her Barbies.

Manola: And we still have some toys from when Constanza was still a little girl. What sort of blindness does Kyo have?

Low vision, I think. He can distinguish colors that would give me a headache. He's very withdrawn, I doubt he's been given much help in the way of learning braille and such, but he's only five, so there's time to help him learn. I'm only half-blind, so I don't know if I'm the best person to help him learn even with Tía Constanza's help. And unless I can get an official diagnosis, all I can do is my best guess on his learning and development.

Manola: Well, the war won't last forever and once the barriers are down we will be able to help. Manolo is already going to school and the girls will be starting in a couple years and then our nest will be empty. Ángel is the only baby now, but he's already running around and causing mischief.

The ink smudged and she knew her aunt was crying. Resting her chin in her hand, she looked to the side at nothing in particular.

Cedric entered the room again.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"Theodore was crying," he said.

"Oh? Why?"

"Cecilia wouldn't let him eat the cat food," he said. "And so I asked if he'd like anything else instead and he asked for 'choccy milk.' So I brought it to him and he cried because I used the yellow cup and not the green one."

Hermione laughed. "Still want little monsters of our own?"

His eyes softened.

"You know I do. Not in the next few years but… someday. The only question is… if they turn out to be werewolves, do we take them to the vet or the doctor?"

Hm… she posed the question to the others.

If I end up having werewolf babies sometime down the road, do I take them to the vet or the doctor?

Beatrice: Manny choked on his tea. Roger says vet. They don't require your information and aren't as secured as hospitals so it's easier to make an escape if they try to call a government agency.

Sirius: I'm glad I just have Harry to worry about. If Azkaban didn't make me go grey, he definitely did.

The conversation moved on from there. It was fine, she just wanted to make sure they were on board with giving the kids a holiday to remember. She didn't disconnect it, giving them all a chance to talk. Instead she rehearsed what she was going to say at the meeting tomorrow.

Cedric was a comforting presence at least, leaning his weight on her back to help her feel grounded. She didn't always feel like she was there and was certain it was due to her bond with Hogwarts. When the war ended, it might be best to sever herself from it before she became lost to it.

"I'm holding you to that," Cedric murmured.

Hermione leaned into him and sighed softly.