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CHAPTER SEVEN: Keeping it in the Family

Harry paused in the doorway of his sleeping quarters, listening to a conversation going on in the Hogwarts staff suite. He could hear two voices: Martin and Lily. "I'm going to have a look around this place," Martin was saying.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Lily sounded quite concerned.

"Not really,"Martin replied. "That's why I'm having a look around."

"Please be careful."

From the sounds Harry could hear, there followed an awful lot of kissing. Far more than the situation actually required. The sort that new couples often indulged in, from what Harry could remember. Finally, the sound of a door indicated that Martin Longbottom had left.

Harry slipped out of his room into the suite. Lily looked round and redenned slightly as she realised he had been within earshot. "Things going all right between you?"he asked in a faux casual manner.

Lily looked at him defiantly. "I hope that doesn't disappoint you."

Harry sighed. "Lily, believe it or not, I do want you to be happy. I was just hoping you'd learn from my mistakes." He remembered that being branded homewreckers had been hard on him and Hermione in their early days together. He had hoped his children wouldn't end up the same way.

"You know, choosing to be with the person you love isn't a mistake,"Lily argued. "Staying with someone you don't love anymore is. I know we could have done it better but I don't need your advice. I'm a grown-up, I make my own decisions. If you have to worry about your children's love lives, save that for Dora."

Harry cocked his head on one side. "Dora?"

"You know she and Bradley are sharing a room, right?" Lily paused, suddenly aware she was saying more than she possibly should have done. "Right?"

"I had my suspicions,"Harry said at last.

"We were doing the same at that age,"James remarked as he and Emily emerged from their own room. Goodness knows how long they'd been there. "You know that, right?"

Harry sighed. "I know you had the use of the Head Boy's suite that year and you often had a guest, yes. And to be fair, it was around that age that your mum and I…took that step. There was a lot of post-Voldemort celebrating." He looked around at them. "Look, you're all parents. You know full well that it doesn't matter how old they get, you always worry about your children."

"Sometimes,"Lily said quietly,"they worry about you as well."

Hermione found herself in the odd position of waiting outside the students' sleeping quarters. She wasn't quite sure why. She just wanted to see her daughter.

Nymphadora and Bradley emerged laughing and joking but their demeanour changed at the sight of Hermione. Nymphadora quickly let go of her boyfriend's hand. "It's all right, carry on,"Hermione attempted.

Nymphadora shot Bradley a helpless look. "It looks like I'm going to be otherwise occupied."

"I'll tell Maxwell and Beverley you can't make it,"he offered, giving her a quick kiss and leaving them alone.

"I'm sorry!"Hermione apologised once Bradley was out of earshot. "I didn't mean to be a helicopter parent and get in the way of you spending time with your friends! I just wanted to check you were okay what with, well…"

"All the things that hanging out with Bradley and my friends takes my mind off?"Nymphadora offered.

"Yes, all those."

"I appreciate you coming, Mum, but I've learned a long time ago that there's not really anything I can do about these crises that tend to spring up around our family."

Hermione hesitated for a moment. "Come with me,"she said at last. "I don't care if there's nothing you can do, you should be part of this."

Harry, Hermione, James, Lily, Nymphadora and Emily had all gathered in the Hogwarts chaperones lounge. Hermione checked the floo. "They'll be here soon."

"You sure you've got it fixed up right?"Harry asked. Hermione gave him a glare. "Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to."

There was a whoosh and two people stepped out of the floo. Rose and Hugo. Nymphadora raised an eyebrow. "Family reunion then, is it?"

"Scorpius wanted to come too,"Rose noted. "I told him someone needed to run the country. He offered to let Imelda Creevey do it but I talked him out of it."

Hugo handed James a file. "That's all we've got."

Nymphadora was still catching up. "All you've got?"

"I asked the Order to look into Zofia Dolohov,"James explained. James had been leader of the Order of the Phoenix since Harry had stepped down.

"And you were right,"Hugo confirmed. "She is Antonin Dolohov's daughter. She was born around the time You-Know-Who was first on the scene, when her father was one of his most devoted supporters."

"Born in England,"Nymphadora recalled.

"Yes, exactly. While her father was based there"

"She'd have been about ten when Dolohov was sent to Azkaban,"Emily realised. "After" - she glanced at Harry - "after his master tried to kill you as a baby."

"That's still old enough to remember him,"Lily pointed out. "Did she see him after that?"

"She and her mother moved to Romania after You-Know-Who's disappearance,"Rose explained. "However, ministry records indicate that they returned to visit Dolohov after the Death Eaters took over the ministry, when she was in her late 20s. That would have been the last time she saw him."

"Because not long after he died at the Battle of Hogwarts,"Harry concluded. "One of the casualties of that last stage of the battle after Voldemort thought he'd killed me." He paused, considering. "I wonder how she feels about that."