As had been promised over a month ago, the Traverses finally asked all of the Weasleys for afternoon tea. Harry was curious. He already knew Ron and Ginny, but now there'd be three new Weasley children for him to meet.

He watched them carefully as they entered the drawing room. The oldest was Percy, he knew. He seemed serious as he entered, and gawked at the parlour less that the two others did. Those were Fred and George, Harry knew as well, and Ron had warned him to watch out for them. "They sometimes play mean pranks," he had said. As they were apparently also the ones who told Ron about troll-wrestling at Hogwarts and who gave Roger and Horatio so much grief, Harry was on his guard indeed.

When they all sat down, Ron immediately started to talk about the latest Chudley Canons match to Harry, and it took the boy a few minutes to successfully get a word in. "I've heard you've been named a prefect, Percy," he said then. "Congratulations."

All of the younger siblings groaned, and Harry frowned.

"Thank you," Percy replied, a little pompously. Harry thought of Ernie McMillan, even though generally, Percy's mannerisms reminded him more of Edmund Crouch, in spite of the age difference. "It's a great responsibility, and I hope I won't disappoint the trust-"

"Yeah, yeah," one of the twins said, and Harry's frown deepened. "We've all heard it before."

"I haven't," Harry replied, then said: "And you two are on the Quidditch team, right?"

The other twin nodded. "It's a pretty good team, too," he said, "if only we had a decent Seeker. Two of our chasers left this year, too, so we'll have to replace them."

"Angelina said Alice was pretty good, though, didn't she? Maybe she could join in?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen her fly..."

Harry tried to direct the conversation somewhere more inclusive. "I've heard that you've had bad luck with Seekers ever since Charlie quit the team," he said.

"Yeah," one of the twins replied. "That tosser."

Percy frowned. "I think it was very responsible of him," he said, "and it shows very well that if you want to have a successful career, you need to make sacrifices."

The younger siblings rolled their eyes again. Harry was quite despairing of this visit.

Alexandra was talking to Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, seemingly quite entrapped, but both Alduin and Mr. Weasley were watching the boys' conversation, making him rather nervous. He searched for a topic. "What do you think of the Gringotts break-in?" He asked at length.

"I think it's incredibly cool," one of the twins said. "I wonder how they did it."

Their elder brother frowned. "You really shouldn't say things like that," he said. "If a dangerous criminal is lurking in magical Britain, we all need to be on our guard-"

"Oh, come on, Perce, they say he didn't even steal anything! What kind of dangerous criminal is that?" The other twin said.

"Yeah," the first one added, "maybe he just wanted to show that he could do it, you know?"

He and his brother exchanged a look, and their father sighed.

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Alduin had known, when he asked Mrs. Longbottom for dinner, that it would mean enduring a formal meal in her home. The prospect was unpleasant, but it also filled him with a degree of morbid curiosity, wondering what kind of people would she ask to make up the rest of the party. He had expected her family, but it turned out he had underestimated her.

Augusta Longbottom asked the Weasleys.

And not just the couple and their eldest available son, either.

Mr. Weasley's two brothers were present, with their wives and two of their sons.

Wasn't it enough that he'd had the main branch over for tea just a few days ago? Alduin decided that she must be more angry about his Ravenclaw influence on Harry than she let on.

The Crabbes were there as well, and Alduin wondered what did they do. Although, come to think of it, they we Slytherins, so that was probably enough in Mrs. Longbottom's books.

It was the first time in his life Alduin remembered seeking out a Crabbe at a party as the best possible conversational partner.

He and Alexandra both latched onto Dalilah Crabbe, and eagerly discussed the health of every member of her blood family – but then Mrs. Weasley joined them, and suddenly the prospects of Dalilah's sister and her husband having children any time soon were the center of attention.

„I certainly think she should, but when has she ever listened to me?" Dalilah said. "Still, she knows her responsibility, and I think she'll oblige the Proudfoots with an heir some time soon. I don't expect any more than exactly one son, though."

Alduin raised his eyebrow.

„What?" Dalilah asked sharply.

„Well, you yourself only have one child as well, do you not?"

„Yes, so?"

„So it surprised me that you were criticizing your sister for not wishing for more." In fact, he didn't think Dalilah had any right to criticize Yezabel in any matter at all. He desperately wished it was the younger sister who was related to the Longbottoms by her marriage. If the two sisters didn't look so similar, no one would have ever guessed they were related. But then, Dalilah seemed like a changeling compared to most of her blood family, to be honest.

„I wasn't," she replied now, and Alduin thought that on reflection, perhaps he should have tried his luck with the Weasleys straight out.

„It's always a difficult transition, is it not?" Alexandra interjected smoothly. „From childless to mother...I'm not surprised your sister takes her time in deciding."

„And you?" Dalilah asked. „Will you take your time as well?"

Alexandra smiled. „I do not intend to," she replied. Alduin judged it wise to kiss her hand at this point, for which she gave him a short but pointed look.

„And how's your family?" Dalilah continued, and Alduin left them to discuss this intriguing topic to go in search of Dalilah's mother-in-law, or grandmother-in-law. On the way, however, he was accosted by one of the Weasley wives. If he remembered correctly, it was the one that came with Lancelot, but he was honestly not sure. These women were too old to have gone to Hogwarts with him, and they were very much not from his circles.

„I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Travers," she said, „but I've heard that your hobby is transcendental sciences?"

„Yes?" Alduin said, giving her a surprised look.

„What exactly do you specialize in?"

„Time travel, and time paradoxes, and time in general."

„Ah...in that case, you're just the man I need. You see, I work at the Ministry in Accidents and Catasthrophes, and there is this issue we have been having..."

Alduin frowned. „Surely there are Department of Mysteries people who could help you? If you're dealing with a time travel accident, they are required to be involved by law, if I recall correctly."

„Yes, of course. But, well, I don't know how well you know the man who heads the Time section..." She trailed off.

„Wilters?" Alduin sighed. "Quite well...unfortunately."

Department of Mysteries was in a difficult position in this respect. By its nature, it required people passionate about the subject dealt with there, but there were not enough of those to man the institution. So in their place, technocrats with no true understanding of the matter were given jobs, and sometimes, as was the case with Wilters, they came to be in charge through their long years of service.

„Yes, well, then you know what I mean," she said with a small frown. "He gave me his most junior employee for the job, and it's impossible to get anywhere with that kind of help, or lack thereof. So I was wondering if you couldn't..."

Alduin nodded. „I'll give Croaker a Floo call, it's not a problem," he said.

She seemed surprised. „Oh...okay then."

„Isn't this what you were going to ask for?"

„I actually wanted to ask if you'd be willing to help us out, but well, if you have the kind of relationship with the department head to think that you can make something happen with a call, then by all means."

Alduin blinked. Class difference was staring him in the face, more starkly here, perhaps, than in the Burrow. Some things were just done differently in different spheres of society, it seemed.

„I know Croaker quite well, yes," he said. „He is part of a transcendental sciences group I meet every month to discuss new discoveries in the field. So I think it won't be a problem."

„Oh – that sounds like a very interesting group! Is it made up by workers from the Department of Mysteries?"

Alduin almost shuddered at the suggestion. „Oh no, only about half of us work there. The majority of the workers, I'm afraid, is rather like Wilters. They don't quite have the passion for their job that would make their membership in our little group meaningful."

„Still, I think it's great such networking places exist. Thank you so much for your help!" She smiled at him, and went in search of her husband.

Alduin stood in place for a moment, a little dumbstruck. He quite liked this woman, certainly more than he liked Mr. or Mrs. Weasley. But she was from a different sphere, no denying it.

Lost in though, he failed to notice the approach of Mrs. Longbottom. „Mr. Travers," she said, in her hard voice. „I've heard from Neville that you make Harry Potter read all of his schoolboooks through. Can't you give him a bit of a break even during the summer?"

„I wish for him to be well prepared," Alduin replied calmly.

„There are other things to prepare for at Hogwarts than studying!"

„And you think I'm neglecting them?" Alduin asked pointedly.

She thought about this. „Not exactly, no," she admitted grudgingly, „though I've heard about the frequent garden parties spent with the youngest Malfoy, don't think I haven't. It's disgraceful."

„Harry would hardly appreciate if I tried to limit who he talks to, and surely you cannot object to the company I did choose for him."

She harrumphed. „You could have warned him. Every decent family warns their children in such cases."

„They warn their children when said children are three or four years old, defenseless and too young to decide for themselves. Harry is eleven, and capable of his own judgment."

„His own! Ha." Mrs. Longbottom walked away, and Alduin reflected that she was sometimes too clever for her own good.

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Harry was happy that, for all the formal dinners Alduin was now giving or attending, it didn't mean he forgot about the informal ones they used to have. As far as things to do on an evening went, talking to Abdulaziz was, to his mind, one of the pleasanter options.

"Are you nervous about Hogwarts yet?" The younger boy asked him, grinning.

Harry laughed. "The last time you asked me that was two days ago!"

"Well, you weren't then. Maybe you are now?"

"If I say yes, will you be happy and leave me be?"

"Come on, you can't be completely relaxed!"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "The thing is, Neville is super nervous, so I just kind of spend so much of my time reassuring him that it's gonna be fine I don't have any time left to worry about it myself! Especially not with all the studying Alduin wants me to do at last minute."

Abdulaziz seemed excited, of all things. "Is he doing Hogwarts stuff with you?"

"Yeah...I mean, not the spells and potions, but all of the theory. He has help, too. Mrs. Bagshot Floo called a couple of times to talk about history – the bits that Alexandra doesn't know as much about – and Miss Brigit has been coaching me on Potions. Even for the rest, he sometimes takes me to the portrait gallery and gets some of the portraits to help. I feel like I could probably sleep through my first week of classes."

"Come on, it's super interesting! Magical theory must be great!" Abdulaziz was nearly bouncing in his seat.

"I dunno...I mean, I've read a book on that ages ago, when I first moved here, so that part is mostly just reviewing for me, so it isn't so bad...but the theory behind Transfiguration is enough to make my head hurt. And potions! There are so many names Miss Brigit wants me to memorize!"

Abdulaziz giggled. "Do you have flashcards?"

"How did you know?"

"I remembered Father telling me that your cousin always had flashcards at school, and that the best way to irritate him was to charm some of them to show something else."

"I don't see how that could irritate anyone," Harry muttered. "At least it would be more fun, if you could wonder if the next card was going to have a surprise on it..." He sighed. "My cousin insists I learn three new names per day. It's exhausting!"

Abdulaziz laughed at him. "Three?" He asked. "That's my usual load, and I'm not right before going to Hogwarts!"

"What, your Father is making you memorize names of potions ingredients as well?"

The younger boy shrugged. "It's different all the time. The last thing I did was learning to recognize different plants from pictures, but before that, it was important history dates."

"And to think my cousin told me that Ravenclaw was about wanting to really understand stuff, not just about memorizing it!"

Alduin, who had just broken away from his group and heard the last comment, smirked at this. "But you can't understand things without knowing at least some basic facts, Harry," he said. "How would you ever understand a book about potions if you had no idea what each ingredient was?"

"Besides," Mrs. Abdullah added, joining them, "facts are the building blocks of thought. With an empty head, you cannot come up with anything interesting."

"Yes, I know," Harry muttered, having heard all of this before. Alexandra seemed to take pity on him, and she said: "Try talking to the Ollivanders about this at some point. I believe they'd tend to agree with you."

Alduin chuckled. "True enough," he said, "Mercurius could never be forced to memorize anything at all. He was forever being teased for that by," and here Alduin paused for a moment, and his tone changed a little, "Eliza, and her cousin."

Mr. Abdullah gave Alduin a look Harry didn't understand, and then said: "And by you. Don't forget that part."

"Oh, I was never quite as merciless as the Crouches," was the more lighthearted reply.

"Because you had a soft spot for him," Mr. Abdullah retorted.

"A soft spot? That's not exactly what I'd call it," his wife muttered, and all the adults laughed.

Harry and Abdulaziz exchanged confused looks. 'No idea', Abdulaziz mouthed, but before Harry could ask what it was about, the dinner was announced and the thread of conversation was lost.