A/N: GOSH It's been a while since this was last updated - these constant assessments from college are going to be the death of me 3 but at least this is here now.
A few things in this chapter: We get an at-home POV from Pansy, and I will come back in here to say who I faceclaim as her mum and dad. Oh yeah, and just for simplicity, I headcanon that although the Parkinsons are pure-blood, they do have fridges. Because how else would they keep their food chilled?
Oh yeah and this chapter is just a bit shorter than usual, but I think the next one will be a bit longer.
Pansy sat at the kitchen table - her mother and father also sitting with her. Her father, Cassius, was busy reading the morning paper, whilst her mother, Dahlia, was getting ready for work and eating breakfast at the same time.
It was comfortably silent - these mornings were normal in their family, and it was quite relaxing actually. Pansy ate her muesli contently, enjoying the combination she and her mum had conjured; they always liked trying out different things for their 'muesli bowls', as they dubbed them. Her dad was content with toast.
Just as she was about to take another bite, her father suddenly spoke up. "Darling, turn the wireless on, quickly."
Without even asking why, her mum quickly jogged over to the table where the wireless radio sat, heels clicking off the floor as she went. Pansy looked up, about to ask what was up, when the switched-on radio answered her unspoken question for her.
"In the early hours of this morning, the lesser-known wizarding school of St Davids in Wales was attacked, the building mysteriously going up in flames."
Pansy looked to her parents, who looked shocked. "I didn't know there was another wizarding school in the UK?" Pansy said.
"This school is… erm, how to say this.. For rejects of Hogwarts." Her father said.
"Rejects?" She was confused. Why would a kid be rejected from Hogwarts?
"Children that may have… mixed heritage." Her mum said.
"Are you saying this is about race?" Pansy let out, suddenly horrified at the thought there were kids rejected from Hogwarts on that basis. But wait, there are people of colour at Hogwarts…
"Not that," her father quickly put in, "your mum means kids that maybe.. Are mixed species. You know, like vampires or, or banshee's."
That was only marginally better. "Oh. I see."
The Wizarding Wireless continued. "The school was fundamental in bringing wizarding education to those students who may not have gotten the chance to attend Hogwarts. The Headmistress - who thankfully wasn't in the building when it was set ablaze - is understandably upset. ``We have no idea who would do such a thing. Our school didn't bring any problems to anyone - in fact, it was a hubbub of help and support for everybody that walked through its gates!'
We are glad to report that there was nobody inside the campus when the fire started, therefore nobody was hurt. Muggle firemen managed to contain the blaze within a few hours, but sadly they didn't manage to save it all. Auror investigators will now be sent, and Minister Bones will likely visit the site to assess the damage.' The report continued.
"Poor woman will be assessing fallen bricks and parched grass," her mum added.
The report concluded with something that caught their attention. "The Department for Magical Education have since stated as of ten o'clock this morning, that students of St David's will be transferred free of charge to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and will attend the school after the summer holidays."
Her parents looked surprised. Pansy probably did too. Over a hundred new people integrating into Hogwarts… How would that work in terms of the dorms, and the class sizes?
Her father closed the newspaper, and said nonchalantly, "Well, I guess their dream of attending Hogwarts will come true after all."
Her mother left about ten minutes afterwards, leaving out the room waving goodbye to them both. Cassius Parkinson smiled at her as he got up, about to also leave for work - he was a Lord in the Wizengamot. "Are you sure you'll be fine in the house on your own?" He asked her.
She swallowed a bit of her muesli. "Yes, dad. Why wouldn't I be?"
He finished the last of his coffee. "Well, it's just… you're stuck here with nobody to talk to."
She smiled to reassure him. "I'll find something to do. Besides, being on my own doesn't bother me."
He seemed convinced. As her dad stood up, he said to her with a wry grin. "I suppose so. But if you do ever change your mind, I'm sure I could find you a little summer job at the Ministry - you could be a cheery wee receptionist, or someones secretary, or-"
"-Dad!" She groaned playfully.
He laughed. "Only joking, sweetheart. But I'm just saying - this might be your last summer spent chilling here, not working, so enjoy it while you can. Next summer, ideally me and your mother would like to see you employed and earning money. It's better to get a job then, rather than when you leave school, as it's a big transition to get used to."
She saw the reasoning in that. "Yeah, okay, I'll aim for that."
He gave her a kiss on the head before patting her shoulders. "I'll see you later then. In case neither of us are back before five, start making dinner. I think there's a salmon en-croute in the fridge."
She nodded, and waved him goodbye as he left the house.
It was not often that Romulus was woken up by his mother.
He was a bit shocked when he woke up, as he was getting slightly shaken from side to side. "Mum, what's up? Has something happened?" He sat upright almost immediately.
"Your school has burned down." His mum, Anna, said, looking a bit upset.
His heart sank. "What? H-how?"
He got up, and within two steps was across his room and throwing his curtains open. He did have a slight view of the school from here, and he could indeed see smoke. There were some licks of orange coming from the visible clocktower.
"I-I don't understand…" He said, not knowing what to say.
"Nobody was hurt, they're saying, but they struck in the night." His mum said.
"Who's 'they', mum?" Romulus asked.
"The Wizarding Wireless didn't say, but the Prophet is saying that there were eyewitnesses - both muggle and magical - that witnessed a symbol appearing above the school briefly."
"What symbol?" He followed.
"The symbol the Death Eater's use."
He connected some of the dots.
"Mum, what… What if my father was here? What if he and his Death Eater friends were the ones that burnt the school."
He felt bad when he saw her wince slightly when he alluded to Rabastan Lestrange, but it was a possibility.
"If he knew you were his son and that you were here, he would have taken you, and probably killed me. I am positive he has no way of finding out about you, dear." His mum replied.
He turned back to looking out of his window, where the building that was his beloved school was still burning away. He could see some water hoses aiming at some blazing parts, which were probably the attempts of the muggle firemen to stop the blaze.
"The Department for Magical Education also put out a statement. They say that the school is too badly damaged to be rebuilt in time for the start of the next school year, so instead there will be no more St David's." Anna said.
"B-but what about the students, mum? We now have no school to go back to, so what do we do?"
"They said that all students of St Davids will instead be transferred, free of charge, to Hogwarts."
He took a few moments to digest that. "Oh…"
There was a loud knock on the front door of their house then. His mum seemed to know. "I think that will be your friends, dear, who will be going with you to Hogwarts."
He remembered he was still in his sleep wear - a long-sleeved, thin pyjama top and shorts, so he quickly threw a suitable shirt and jeans to just go on over the top so that he'd be presentable to answer the door. Once that was done, he jogged down the stairs and all but launched the front door open.
It was indeed his friends Stefan, Emmeline and Phoebe standing there on his front doorstep. Their bikes were all but discarded at the top of his front garden. A rather acrid smell of smoke hit his nose when he smelled the outside air.
"Some twats set our school on fire!" Phoebe gestured dramatically behind her.
"Yeah, I know, mum told me what the Wireless said." He replied.
"Did she also tell you that St David's students will instead be going to Hogwarts?" Stefan added, his eyes lit up.
"Yes, indeed!" He grinned, and the girls squealed.
"I just realised it made our tearful goodbyes to you on the last day of school a bit all-for-nothing, Rom," Emmilene said. "Because now we'll all be going to Hogwarts together!"
They laughed a bit when they realised that indeed, that was the case.
Romulus noticed his mum behind him, and realised that she was probably on her way to work. He moved out of the way for her. His friends said cheerful hellos to her.
"You can go inside if you want," she said with a kind smile, and turned to Romulus, "I left money in case you are planning to walk about and go to the shops."
"Thanks, Mum!" He waved her goodbye, and then gestured to his friends to come inside. They sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen whilst he got his own breakfast ready.
"So, how do you think it's going to go?" Phoebe asked aloud.
"What, going to Hogwarts?" Stefan wondered.
Phoebe sent a pointed look at the vampire. "Yes, you div, I mean going to Hogwarts!"
"Well, so long as there's actually support available for if - when - I get a scent of someone's blood, then I'm highly optimistic." Stefan said, nonchalantly.
"Same for me, but you know, for my Banshee abilities. I pity the poor bugger that tries to scare me by jumping out at me." Emmilene added with wit.
He noticed Phoebe looked a little exasperated. "Oh, is nobody worried about the fact that a lot of St David's are a bunch of mixed species kids going to a 'normal' wizarding school?"
Romulus eyed his friend. "What do you mean by that, Phebs?"
"I imagine there's very few kids at Hogwarts that are like us, and if there are they probably are sworn to secrecy to keep their abilities to themselves. Do you think they're going to be smiley and welcoming when a bunch of students that were previously attending a school meant for societal rejects like us rock up? No. They're going to learn about us and shun us, because they're not used to werewolves or banshees or vampires kicking about their school. We're going to be bullied." Phoebe explained haughtily.
"Jeez, Phebs, calm down," Stefan said, "maybe you're overthinking this. Sure, some of them will be bullies, but it's only because they're either ignorant or prejudiced. I'm sure they'll be told in advance that we're not in fact all determined to eat them."
Phoebe's nostrils flared, and she piped up again. "Do you know that all magical kids in Britain do actually learn about werewolves, vampires and the like? They learn about them in Defence Against the Dark Arts, books which teach them that we are dangerous! Not to be interacted with! Probably tell them we deserve to be hunted down and locked up too!"
Romulus could understand her worry. The more he thought about it, he realised that it would take Hogwarts quite a bit of time to get used to the students of St David's. After all, until recently, St David's was basically a school where mixed species and rejects were isolated from 'normal' wizarding children. Romulus did wonder how he himself would be received - would he have to stand in front of classes and introduce himself by going, "Hi, I'm Romulus O'Brien, but I'm actually the son of an insane Death Eater called Rabastan Lestrange, a man who is on the loose and is wanted for many crimes, you might have heard of him."?
Eventually Phoebe calmed down, with them saying that they had a whole summer before they had to worry about going to Hogwarts. Romulus did have his own worries, but now at least he would be attending with his friends. They would look out for each other if anything happened.
When Amelia came downstairs on Tuesday morning, she noticed that Sirius and Ophelia must've already left for work, as they were not in the kitchen when she entered. Dorea, Regulus and Barnaby were the only other occupants of the kitchen.
She noticed that her god sister's hair looked a bit fancy. "You look nice." She commented in welcome,.
"Thanks," Dorea all but grinned, "it's mine and Fred's one year anniversary today."
Amelia then turned back around in realisation. "Oh my gosh, so it is! Happy anniversary to you both."
"Thank you. We're going to Diagon Alley for lunch, and then he's going to show me the progress on the shop." Dorea explained, looking excited and bright eyed.
Amelia smiled, and then looked at Regulus. "Did Sirius approve this?"
Regulus Black nodded. "Yep. I think there was a bit of reluctance though, but he gave Dorea money and wished her a happy anniversary."
Amelia smiled, almost laughing at the image of Sirius forcing himself to be happy for his daughter, even though he'd known about Dorea and Fred for months now.
Halfway through her breakfast, did Theo finally come downstairs with Blaise and Harry. She smiled when she noticed Theo's hair had that slightly tousled look to it that she loved so much.
After breakfast was had, each of them meandered to various parts of Black Manor to do their own thing. Amelia decided to go to Alphard Black's Library on the top floor and just take her time working on her wandless abilities. She had been focusing mostly on first year Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts spells before the exam period, and had managed most of them, so instead she moved on to second year spells. Ideally, she would have liked to be further on in the curriculum than mere second year, but she deemed it no rush; there was no test or exam, it was just an added extra that she had thought useful to have. She did wonder though - did Harry also have this ability? They were after all twins, but she had noticed a few differences between them; Harry used to be affected by visions from Voldemort, whereas she had never been subjected to them, and in this case she had the ability to use wandless magic, whereas Harry didn't show any signs of the ability also affecting him. She supposed that was just how genetics worked.
Second year Charms took her almost two hours, because she wasn't allowing herself to work too hard on the spells. The last time she'd tired herself out from them, she had stood up, and would have fallen to the floor if Theo hadn't caught her. She was working hard, but not stressfully. Once she had ticked second year Charms off, she got started on second year Defence.
She'd only worked on three spells before there was a knock on the Library door, and Regulus Black poked his head around. "Lunch is ready, Amelia, and we have a few visitors."
She got up, turning her head to look at the clock on the wall - had she really been in here for almost two and a half hours? Well, she thought, at least I was so productive that I didn't even notice the time.
She walked with Dorea's uncle down the stairs, their feet almost clip-clopping as they went. "Who are our visitors?" She asked.
"Remus, and Tonks." Regulus replied, and Amelia couldn't help but notice the tiny smirk Regulus was fighting.
"Ah, nice of them to visit." Amelia said, excited to see her honorary uncle and Tonks again.
They walked into the kitchen, and noticed that Remus and Tonks were indeed there with the rest of the Black Manor residents that weren't working or on their 1 year anniversary date. She smiled at Remus as he was ready to pull her into a hug, and did the same with Tonks.
Lunch was a variety of toasted sandwiches - there was either cheese and ham, or tuna mayonnaise. "I'm no Ophelia when it comes to cooking, but I know they're tasty." Regulus said as they were about to eat. Amelia was surprised when she did take a bite; they were delicious, that was for sure. She wondered where Regulus learned how to cook this well.
After a few minutes, Harry voiced that he wondered why Remus and Tonks were here, as he had a feeling it wasn't just for a flying visit. Remus chuckled, and actually said he was right. "A wizarding school in Wales was set on fire by the Death Eater's this morning."
Amelia looked to Theo, Blaise, her brother and Barnaby - there was another magical school in Britain?
Blaise had his eyebrows raised. "What wizarding school? I thought there was only Hogwarts, and that's in Scotland?"
Tonks swallowed a bit of her toastie before replying. "There is another wizarding school in Britain, but it is smaller for a reason; not very many go to it, and it is a school that was set up by the Ministry to accommodate to magical children that… lets just say did not meet Ministry standard, or their Hogwarts letter did not reach."
"So they set up this school so that it doesn't look like the Ministry is being discriminatory?" Theo guessed.
"Exactly. Though there are normal children that did attend this school, quite a lot of its students were mixed humanoid species; such as vampires, banshees, and indeed werewolves." Remus replied.
That was news to Amelia, and indeed most of the kitchen table. "So what happens to them now?" Harry wondered.
"The Department for Education said this morning that they'll be transferred free of charge to Hogwarts after the summer." Tonks said.
Barnaby let out a low whistle - it sounded like a big task. Over a hundred new students to be integrated, as well as the new first years? She didn't envy the teachers.
Once that news settled in, Tonks said more. "There's something else: the Ministry has had some reports that magical folk in Eastern Europe are being terrorised by this new sudden uprising of wizard leaders. They've started popping up in Belarus, Ukraine, Romania and Latvia, and they all say they are basically puppet leaders of Voldemort. They gain hundreds, if not thousands of followers each day."
That did not sound good, in the slightest. Amelia wondered how it could get worse, but then thought, Russia is right next door to those countries, it's only a matter of time before someone pops up there, and then a domino effect happens.
The rest of the table seemed to be uneased. "Have they actually overthrown the respective governments?" Regulus asked.
"Yes," Remus said.
So that was extremely bad - how was Voldemort able to do this so quickly? Was his next target Central and Western Europe, then Asia:? The Americas? Africa? The whole world?
"There must be resistance to them though, right?" Amelia said, not realising how desperate she sounded.
Remus laid a hand on top of hers, which was clenching her fork. "Yes, there are people that oppose them, but they're having to be careful. The wizard that sent the Patronus message informing the Minister of these events was killed shortly after he sent it. They're moving quickly and quietly."
She understood that, and felt a bit comforted that just because these new leaders were popping up, did not mean their populations agreed with them. She did feel a bit of anxiety though, as it meant there was likely to be more attacks and battles, and that people were going to be hurt, and likely killed.
But she did take comfort in that eventually, peace would prevail, and this evil would be put down, whether it took a singular country or the whole world.
A/N: RIP St David's 3