Narcissa Malfoy came to call on the Traverses one rainy morning in late May, and stretched the appropriate time of her call to its limit. It was a good thing only the McMillans were present when she came, and they were generally unlikely to realize something strange was happening, even though of course their presence also made Narcissa' lingering one all the stranger. She did not say anything, naturally, but her perfectly frozen expression made it seem that she found listening to them prattle on about last night's dinner extremely painful.

Alduin himself didn't mind them. Yes, he would not pick any of the current members of the family for an intellectual conversation and Aidan and Mr. McMillan both tended to be rather pompous, but at least they weren't the Smiths.

Narcissa endured, waiting long enough that the McMillans left and she was, finally, left alone with the Traverses.

Alduin exchanged a look with Alexandra and they rose, taking the visitor to his public study.

When Narcissa sat down in front of Alduin's desk, she smiled slightly and took a wrapped object out of her purse.

Alduin held hid his breath.

She took off the wrapping.

It was the cup.

He exhaled.

"Now," Narcissa said, "I don't pretend to be an expert in defeating Dark Lords, but...are you perhaps trying to beat this one by being darker than him?"

Alexandra sighed. "Cissa..."

She raised one elegant eyebrow. "I did some detection spells. I'm sure you can imagine that got me rather worried."

Alexandra inclined her head. "I do understand, but...given everything...are you sure you want to know?"

Narcissa gave a small chuckle. "I'm quite sure that, given your husband's recent...conversation with Lucius, I don't want to risk that you will use this against my family."

Alexandra frowned. "Do you really think I'd-"

"Against me or Draco? No. Against Lucius, though? Naturally."

"It's not a weapon," Alduin said with a sigh. "In fact, it wasn't even properly your sister's. It belonged to the Dark Lord...he gave it to her for safekeeping."

Narcissa gave him an amused look. "That is no real reassurance."

Alduin considered the situation. "I can't risk you knowing about it, or more specifically, I can't risk Lucius having the slightest idea, given the pitiful state of his Occlumency and his presumed closeness to the Dark Lord once he comes back. I'll tell you if you agree to be obliviated afterwards. You will know, decide whether you want us to have the cup, write a short note to yourself in this respect, and I'll obliviate you."

"That assumes I trust you not to Imperius me."

Alduin didn't answer. His reassurance wouldn't do any good.

Narcissa looked at Alexandra for a very long moment, unblinking. "The Vow's terms were reasonable," she admitted then, as if she was continuing some previous conversation. "Very well then," she agreed slowly. "But if you betray me, you will regret it. Bitterly."

Alduin curtly nodded, and exchanged one short look with Alexandra. "The cup," he said then, "contains part of the Dark Lord's soul. If he is to be killed, it must be destroyed."

Narcissa blinked, and then pushed the cup away from her. "Of course," she said, "a Horcrux...it never occurred to me...that explains what the detection spells showed very well, yes. But why did Bella have it? And how did you know?"

Another look passed between the Traverses, and at Alexandra's slight nod, Alduin said: "Riddle has more than one. He gave his most trusted followers one each."

Narcissa paused. "His most trusted-" her eyes widened. "Lucius!"

"It has already been taken care of," Alduin reassured her. "In fact, Lucius' – ah – indiscretion with it was what gave us the idea of Bella having one."

"Indiscretion?" Narcissa asked, one perfect eyebrow raised in question once again.

"The one Lucius had had certain...abilities. Lucius tried to use them. He didn't know what it was, of course," Alduin added hastily seeing the look in her eyes, because Narcissa murdering her husband would not serve him well at all at this point.

"Still, he tried using something the Dark Lord gave him?" Narcissa looked like she wanted to say something, but then she only pursed her lips. "Give me a piece of parchment," she said curtly.

She left the Manor a few minutes later, knowing only that the cup had been something Very Bad indeed, and that she should not ask any questions, though perhaps she should keep an eye on Lucius' sillier ideas.

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"Exams," Harry groaned quietly. "Whoever thought exams were a good idea?"

Hermione, who was sitting at a table next to him in the library, gave him a look. "Harry-" she started.

"Oh, come on," Su said, rolling her eyes. "He's right, exams are a bother. I mean, I have to go over everything I've studied already once more, when there are so many other thing's I'd rather be reading about!"

"Well, to be fair," Ron whispered, since the looks Madam Pince was giving them indicated she wasn't too happy with their talking, "I'm seeing some of this stuff for the first time now, or I feel like it anyway."

Hermione craned her neck to see what he was reading. "Seriously?" She asked. "The Disarming Charm? We did that back with Professor Davies, and not too long after he came either."

"That's probably the reason Ron doesn't remember it any more," Harry pointed out.

"So much of Davies' classes blurs together," Sophie complained. "He was trying to catch us up on what we missed with Lockhart, and I feel like he never did anything properly."

"Well, it's hardly his fault Lockhart was useless and Yaxley didn't really feel like drilling us too hard before Christmas," Ron pointed out.

"Horatio says his grandmother was just so irritated she had to come in again," Hermione told them.

Harry grimaced. "Yeah, it was probably a bit of a bother for her that Alduin got Lockhart fired..."

"Oh no, that's not what I meant! She didn't complain about that, from what Horatio said, she just complained that Dumbledore kept hiring these incapable teachers."

"Hagrid told me there was literally no one willing to do this job."

"Horatio said he could have tried people from abroad-"

At this moment, Madam Pince's patience ran out and she descended on them. "If you want to chat," she said, "the corridors are open to you. Be quiet or I'll take points."

Harry, feeling guilty, looked back to his notes.

Mandrakes are ready for cutting when...he squinted. He couldn't read his own writing. "Hey, Neville," he whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible, "when are mandrakes ready for cutting?"

"Once they've produced all of their new batches of seeds."

"All? How many is that?"

Neville sighed. "They will produce a new batch every month or so. Once they stop, it's time to cut them. Some mandrakes produce only one, some have as many as six or seven, you can never know in advance." He shrugged. "You can cut them sooner, too, but then they're less effective, and of course you don't have the seeds."

"Okay..." Harry said slowly. "I'm pretty sure that answer is about thrice as long as the one that's written in my notes, but thanks."

"No problem. And hey, can you tell me-" but Madam Pince was looking at them in an unfriendly manner again, and so Neville fell quiet and only mouthed 'later.' They could discuss this in the common room as much as they wanted.

So Harry dragged his mind back to studying and kept at it till it was time for dinner. "How are you doing?" He asked his friends once they left the library. "I mean, with studying? Are you behind, or…?"

"I'm very behind," Hermione moaned. "I wanted to read over my Transfiguration notes again, but-"

Sophie gave her an unfriendly look. "I don't think I've even seen all of my Transfiguration notes yet," she said. "And I'll just have to wing history, because everything I read, I forget immediately."

Harry didn't wonder. Binns seemed to be picking the most boring parts of history for them. "Do you think it'd still be counted if we talked about some more interesting bits in the exams? I mean, medieval history is fascinating, but the stuff we do-"

"I doubt it," Su muttered. "All Binns wants to hear are the dates. Because the way things tie together obviously doesn't matter!"

"Ugh," Sophie said, "that'd just be one more thing to memorize."

"But it makes studying so much easier!" Su argued. "I mean, if you know why the International Warlock Convention gathered for the first time, it'll be easier to remember when!"

Sophie didn't look convinced, and even Harry doubted it. "I know why," he said, "and I still don't remember the exact year."

"Well, it won't help you with the exact year, no," Su conceded, "but you'll know the right half a century or something."

"I don't think Binns cares whether I get it wrong by a year or by a hundred," Harry muttered.

"That's probably true," Su agreed, looking depressed.

Harry had planned to study some more after dinner, but he felt like his brain was fried from all the work he'd done that day, so when Ron suggested going to visit Hagrid after they finished their meal, he was unable to resist the siren's call. Neville didn't go with them, saying he had way too much work, so it was just the two of them who trotted down to Hagrid's cabin.

"Su complaining about the exams was extremely vindicating," Ron commented on the way. "If even the Ravenclaws hate it, why don't they just cancel them and be done with it?"

"Hermione doesn't seem to," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, well, Granger is a freak of nature."

Harry only rolled his eyes. They walked in silence for a moment, then the sight of Hagrid's cabin reminded Harry of the baby dragon, and that in turn reminded him of something he'd been meaning to ask. "Are your brothers going to come this summer, do you know?" He asked.

"Bill definitely is, he should be in Britain for two weeks in August. Charlie doesn't know yet. His free time depends on what the dragons are doing a lot..."

Before Harry could reply, Hagrid emerged from the shadows around them. "Hi, Harry, Ron," he said. "I was jus' doing rounds in tha forest. If yer brother does come, Ron, ask him how Norbert is doing."

"Sure," Ron agreed. "I asked last summer, and he said fine – only it's a female!"

"Female! My Norbert! Bless me heart!"

"Yeah...they call her Norberta now."

Hagrid shook his head. "I reckon you were right," he said. "It really was better to send Norbert to the professionals, if I couldn't even tell he was a girl!"

-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-hp-

Alduin found visiting Mercurius extremely relaxing. While most of his other friends were tied up in his schemes and plans in some way, Mercurius was simply not. He couldn't care less about politics and as a Healing specialist, Alduin hadn't found an occasion to make use of his services in his attempt to eliminate Riddle, so this was all very pleasant.

Or it would have been if it hadn't been for that vague feeling of guilt Alduin always had in his company. Still, that feeling had been there for long years now, almost like an old friend. He could hardly imagine interacting without it.

That was precisely what the future might have in store, though, because after a pause and an apparent hesitation, Mercurius said: "There's someone I'd like you to meet, eventually."

"Who?" Alduin asked curiously.

"Daniel Goldstein...my new boyfriend."

Alduin's eyebrows almost left his face. "I thought you and Patritia agreed to keep out of relationships until the children were at Hogwarts?" It was what most couples with open relationships did. An occasional one-night stand was one thing, but having a long-term lover when one's children were young was considered bad form. One was not supposed to have time for that. It was felt that the time devoted to the lover would be taken out of the time the children needed.

Alduin could hardly fault Mercurius of that, of course, given how much time his own political activities consumed. He was sure that even with a lover, Mercurius had more time for his children than Alduin had for Wynn, as much as it pained him. But still, many would say precisely that, that Mercurius was prioritizing his own selfish wishes over his family. And there was the mere fact of the agreement with Patritia.

"We did, originally," Mercurius agreed, "but well...then I met Daniel." He shifted in his seat and looked away as he added: "You know how hard it is to find someone who's interested in an actual serious relationship..."

And here the guilt was back again, full force. "Mercurius-"

"No, listen, it's fully understandable, as I told you back then. Even if you were- even if it was different, you'd still have needed to get married, and just like you said, most people expect a sort of fidelity at the beginning of marriage. But, anyway, I met Daniel and I knew pretty soon it was going to be special. I...tried to keep it contained, but eventually, it was just beyond me, so...well."

When Mercurius put it that way, Alduin really couldn't find it in himself to criticize. "What does Patritia think?" He asked weakly.

"Oh, she's very understanding," Mercurius said with a soft smile. "I expected she'd be, given her temperament. She just refuses to lie to the children, so I have to choose whether I won't bring Daniel home, or whether I'll tell Lucilla what is what. Geralt, of course, is too young to notice anything. But this is what I wanted your advice on."

"Merc, this is hardly something I should decide," Alduin pointed out. "What does Patritia prefer?"

"She says she doesn't care either way."

Alduin had some doubts about that. While Mercurius was right about Patritia's temperament, from what he knew from Alexandra, the woman fell in love once a year on average and yet hasn't had a long-term affair since she got married. Of course, given her tendency to fall in love with wholly unsuitable people, that was a very good thing, but still. Alduin was not at all sure she'd appreciate Mercurius' lack of restraint, not when she herself was keeping to their agreement. He'd have to ask Alexandra about it. "What does Daniel prefer, then?" He asked aloud.

"He tells me it's up to me."

Alduin sighed. "Listen, I strongly doubt all these people in your life fail to have a preference. Get it out of them, discuss it with them in detail, and decide based on that. I understand there would be downsides to both for Daniel – he might feel uncomfortable talking to your daughter, but at the same time he might feel hurt by not being asked to your house – but I'm almost certain he'll know what he hates less."

Mercurius nodded. "Thanks," he said. "Are you willing to meet him, then?"

"Yes, of course. But- what did you tell him I was?"

There was a short silence. "I told him the truth," Mercurius said at length. Alduin sighed. Somehow, he didn't think that 'we're friends' was the truth the younger man had in mind. This was likely to be a rather awkward meeting.