Hello! Sorry, this chapter is a bit/very late. :/ I hit a bit of a block and probably re-wrote this chapter at least 3 times. It's a bit sad I know, but we have just seemed to reach that point in this story. I promise the next few chapters will be a bit more jolly (with a lot more Elphinstone and Minerva). I also wanted to thank everyone for the lovely reviews!

I hope everyone is keeping safe during lockdown!


10 January 1985

"I think we should all go out," said Malcolm, emerging from the living room and meeting Minerva in the corridor. "Robert's team won a game this week and Minerva has just qualified as an Auror. Mum wouldn't have wanted us to sit around like this and not celebrate."

He looked at Minerva, who was holding an assemble of empty tea mugs. She faltered, swallowed then nodded. Much as the news of Isobel's passing a week and a half ago had hit her hard, she accepted that she couldn't just sit and dwell on her grief. Her mother for one would not have wanted that and as Malcolm had rightly said, there were still things happening now that had a reason for celebration. Minerva also privately wondered whether her brother also felt a sudden need to keep busy – there were only so many days you could possibly withstand sitting alone with your thoughts.

"I agree, it's the last thing she would have wanted," Minerva said finally. She sighed then lifted the mugs slightly. "I'm going to get these cleaned up then I'll start getting ready."

Malcolm smiled slightly, looking relieved. "We could go to that restaurant down by the lake? The one where—"

"Mum and Dad got engaged," interrupted Minerva. She felt her heart clench painfully in her chest. "It shuts quite early, Malcolm."

"I know," he said, checking his watch. "But if we leave in the next ten minutes we should be fine. I'll go and tell the others."

Minerva watched as Malcolm went up the stairs to get the rest of the family. Although grateful that they were finally leaving the confinements of the manse, she was not sure if going to this restaurant was something that she felt comfortable with. Indecisively, she waited a few more moments at the bottom of the staircase before suddenly shaking herself and continuing her way to the kitchen — if anything, the more she felt like changing her mind, the more she had to resist this compulsion.

Briskly, she emptied the last dregs of tea from the mugs into the sink before snapping her fingers so that they began to wash themselves. Meanwhile, she gave the kitchen a quick tidy before clicking her fingers once more so that the now clean mugs slotted themselves back into their respective cupboards.

She had just finished when her second oldest niece, also called Minerva, walked into the kitchen dressed in her work robes.

"I seem to have misplaced my muggle clothing," she said, grimacing apologetically. "Is it possible you have something I could borrow?"

Minerva paused, trying to think of what she had done with all of her clothes before she had moved to London – she had only taken a few dresses with her at that time, so logically, the rest of her belongings would still be in the manse somewhere.

"Give me a minute, and I'll have a look for you," she said finally. "I doubt I left anything here but, I could be wrong. Perhaps ask your sister or your cousin if they have anything in the meantime?"

The younger Minerva smiled. "Thanks, Auntie," she said gratefully before disappearing out of the room and running up the stairs.

Minerva followed her niece out however instead of going up the stairs she continued down the hallway until she reached the last room on the left. For the best part of 30 years, it had been used as a storage room for any belongings Minerva or her brothers had left behind when they had moved out. If Minerva were to find any of her old muggle clothes then, they would be stored somewhere in that room.

However, over the last few weeks, the use of the room had changed. Instead of serving predominantly as a storage room, it had become Isobel's bedroom during her last few weeks. Minerva had not been in there since her mother had passed away. Hand on the door handle, she hesitated for several seconds before taking a deep breath and opening the door. Immediately her mother's scent enveloped her. It took all of her willpower not to snap the door shut again.

Not wanting the stay in the room for longer than was necessary, Minerva then began her search for any cardboard box that might contain any of her old possessions. She took care not to look at the bed, that had now been stripped, or the selection of get-well cards lining the window sill that neither Minerva nor anybody else had had the courage to remove.

Instead, she methodologically looked through cupboards and stacks of boxes lined against the wall. It was only when she opened the last of the cardboard boxes that a button she had not seen resting on the lid flew off and rolled underneath the bed.

"Is everybody ready?"

"Just a minute," Minerva called to whoever had spoken from the hallway.

She crouched down and peered underneath the bed. The button had appeared to have rolled underneath a blanket covering something large. Minerva pulled out the rectangular-shaped box as well as the blanket and the button that had become tangled in the drapes. She was just about to push the box back under the bed when she stopped. Something about the size and shape of it had caught her attention. Forgetting her eagerness to leave the room as quickly as she could, she tugged the blanket off.

Underneath lay a large rectangular case wrapped in brown paper. Minerva passed a finger over the tape sealing the box, brushing over a small sticker with the words property of Isobel Ross 1910 scrawled neatly across it. The sticker sat whole, complete and untorn despite its location - half on the tape sealing the box shut and half on the cardboard.

Minerva let her curiosity get the best of her. She pulled out her wand and tapped the wrapping lightly with it. The paper came neatly apart and Minerva felt her breath catch in her throat. In front of her lay her mother's old Hogwarts trunk.

It was in a fairly good condition, with only a few scrapes decorating its otherwise smartly varnished wood. Minerva bit her lip then, after a quick decision, tapped her wand on the lock and the trunk opened.

Neatly folded at the top of the pile lay a perfectly kempt set of Ravenclaw robes. Minerva took the robes out. A glittering prefect badge was pinned securely on the collar - the typical Ravenclaw sapphire stones sparkled on the sides.

Beneath the robes lay a Ravenclaw Quidditch uniform, Montrose Magpies t-shirts, several notebooks, and out of date textbooks. Under those lay a stack of glossy photos capturing Isobel laughing on the Hogwarts Express, Isobel holding up her newly arrived Prefect's badge, Isobel with the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team… The box was filled with all of Isobel's old Hogwarts belongings.

Minerva looked through the moving photographs one by one. It felt strange seeing this younger version of her mother celebrating a Quidditch victory, sitting in the Ravenclaw Common Room, or enjoying the traditional Christmas lunch in the Great Hall with friends, with the knowledge that, a few years later, Isobel would renounce her magic and live as a muggle for the rest of her life.

"Minerva, is everything all right?"

Minerva looked up at Elphinstone who had popped his head around the door. He wore a mildly concerned expression on his face, and Minerva realised she must have been sitting in this room for quite some time.

"I-I just found something," she said, putting the photos hurriedly down. "It-It's my mother's Hogwarts trunk-"

"Oh," said Elphinstone, quickly coming into the room as she dissolved into tears. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a comforting hug. "There now, shh," he told her.

They hugged for a while longer until there was a knock on the door and Isobel poked her head in the room.

"Uncle Finn we're about to-Oh." Isobel stopped seemingly aware that she had interrupted a moment. She averted her eyes to give Minerva the chance to compose herself. "Erm, we're about to go," she repeated.

Elphinstone looked up at Isobel, placing a discreet hand on Minerva's back as she quickly dried her eyes. "On our way, Iz. Give us two minutes."

"Of course," answered Isobel quickly. She smiled weakly then disappeared from the room.

Elphinstone crouched back down next to Minerva who was already repacking the box. "If it's too soon, Minerva I can always tell-"

"No," Minerva interrupted, "No, it's all right. I-I need to get out." She tried to smile and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be fine."

"Only if you're sure. We don't have to."

"I'm sure," Minerva reassured him as she began repacking the trunk. "Really. I'll be out in just a moment. I just need to put this away."

"All right," said Elphinstone, squeezing her shoulders and then stand back up. He kissed her and then left the room.

Minerva looked back down at the last pile of photos in her hand. The one at the top depicted her mother brandishing the Quidditch Cup proudly in her hand. The rest of the Ravenclaw team were all whooping behind her. Despite the tears, Minerva smiled. It was a pretty photo and one that reminded her that Isobel had had similar interests and experiences as her at school. She put it carefully in her pocket then wrapped the trunk again and pushed it back underneath the bed – she would tell Malcolm about it later.

Then, remembering why she had come into the room in the first place, she went to the wardrobe and opened it. A selection of muggle dresses were hanging up in the cupboard. Minerva took one down. It was the one she had worn the day she had received her NEWT results. It should fit her niece nicely, she thought, closing the cupboard doors then leaving to find the others in the hallway.