"How is everything at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked once they settled with their meals in the private dining room at The Three Broomsticks.
It was the weekend before Hogwarts let out for the Easter holiday and the atmosphere in the main room of The Three Broomsticks had been one of cheer for the younger students and stress for the older ones as exams approached. Exams always did seem much closer after the Easter holiday.
"Busy," Ginny said after a moment. "We're pretty well set up to transition the DA to the new leaders. I've got a match against Hufflepuff in four weeks, but I'm not concerned about that. I think it's going to be down to point totals to see who gets the Cup this year. We're still working on the Animagus transformation. Neither of us can do it independently yet."
"It is harder than it seems, though I do like my form a great deal," Luna said.
"I like my form too," Ginny said. "I'm hoping we can manage in the next two months. And NEWT studying is NEWT studying."
"I think we're very well prepared," Luna said.
"Considering that you sat in on most of our NEWT study sessions last year, you're probably the most prepared of all the seventh years," Theo said. "Try not to worry too much about it. The exams are fairly intense, but you know the material."
"I'll just be glad when it's over," Ginny said. "What is happening with all of you?"
"We're staying busy, I think," Hermione said with a glance around the table.
"Not as busy as we were at Hogwarts. I think you'll both find leaving Hogwarts is like taking a break, even with a Mastery," Millie said. "Let me just say this: weekends off."
"Except for me, Neville, and Rachel," Draco pointed out.
"We get most of our weekends off," Neville said. "Even with the Wizengamot."
"And we're rarely called out on a weekend for the aurors," Rachel said. "And even when we are, we still have the daytime off."
"Don't listen to them," Draco said. "Even when we're taking time off they're reading or studying something."
"But it's different when it's something we want to be reading instead of writing yet another essay or preparing for a quiz,," Millie said. "Besides, we watch television, and we do other things too."
"No more essays," Ginny said, looking dreamy. "Three more months and I'll never have to write another essay again. They don't make you write essays in your Masteries, do they?"
"Not essays, exactly. It's more compiling research," Theo said.
"We have exams in the Healer Training Program, but they're all short answer," Hermione said.
"I haven't had any essays or exams. It's all hands-on work or discussion or research," Millie said.
"Same for me," Neville said. "I spend at least half the day out with the plants, which works well for me."
"That sounds alright then," Luna said.
"How is the Ministry and the Wizengamot?" Ginny asked.
Rachel shrugged. "Not too bad. I'm spending most of my focus there on my proposal. I'm going to talk to more people about it when Theo and I attend the Minister's Easter Dinner in two weeks. I'm planning on bringing the proposal to the Wizengamot in either May or June, depending on how many people I've reached by then."
"How are people taking it?" Luna asked.
"Varies from person to person. Most of them are asking to see my research, which is what we want them to do. People need to be making an informed decision about this. The death rate seems to rattle everyone. I don't think anyone realized it was that bad," she said.
"It's a good talking point," Theo said. "I've seen a lot of the people you've talked to take that more seriously than the idea that people are suffering in Azkaban."
"I'd say that most people are going to be fine with the fact that people are suffering in Azkaban. Killing a third of the people with five year sentences though, that's something else entirely," Draco said.
Rachel nodded. She wanted people to care that people were suffering in Azkaban, but she'd take what she could get.
"What about the aurors?" Ginny asked. "Any news there?"
"Attacks are starting to slow down, and that's a good thing," Draco said.
"Mostly a good thing. Gives us less opportunity to catch the Death Eaters who remain," Rachel said.
"But could also mean that they have fewer Death Eaters to stage attacks to begin with," Millie suggested.
"That's probably true too. As far as anyone can tell, they're not recruiting anymore," Draco agreed. "Word has it that Rachel kicked Tonks' ass when dueling last week."
"I cheated," Rachel said quickly.
"How?" Hermione asked.
"Wandless magic."
"I don't see how that's cheating," Draco said.
"Well, it depends, were you just going until you were disarmed, or did you agree not to use wandless magic?" Theo asked.
"We were going until the other person said yield. Tonks disarmed me. I knocked her off her feet and disarmed her wandlessly," Rachel said. "I shouldn't have, but it was almost instinctual."
Hermione sighed. "Did you even practice those spells before using them?"
"No, and I should have, because I shouldn't cast something wandlessly at someone until I see what it will do," Rachel said, feeling a tinge guilty about that.
"That's probably a good idea, just in case," Neville said.
"I'm just jealous," Hermione said. "I have two wandless spells and I've been working on them for months now."
"That's still above average; most people can't do it at all," Theo said.
"As usual, Rachel is way beyond the bounds of normal," Draco said, smiling at her.
Rachel shrugged. "As long as other people don't know, it's fine. I just have to be careful not to use wandless magic in front of people unless it's an emergency."
"It may be to your advantage to reveal it one day, but I can understand why you'd want to keep it a secret for now," Luna said with a nod.
Rachel returned to her fish and chips. She wasn't sure that day was ever going to come, but she was willing to leave the possibility open.
"Anything else going on?" Ginny asked.
"Well," Theo said with a glance at Rachel.
Rachel nodded. They'd agreed not to keep their relationship from the group.
"Rachel and I are dating," Theo said.
The room was silent for a moment as everyone stared at them.
"Since when?" Hermione asked.
"We decided about a week ago," Theo said.
"Well, I hope it works out. I'm happy for you if you're both happy," Millie said after a moment.
"Yeah, if you're both happy, then congratulations," Ginny said.
"You should come on a date with me and Hannah at some point," Neville said.
"We can do that," Rachel said after a quick glance at Theo. "In disguise if we're in the magical world, but it sounds like fun."
"I think you'll be an interesting couple. You're very similar in some ways, but very different in others," Luna said.
"That's probably true," Theo said.
"All I have to say is about time. It took you how many years to work this out?" Draco asked.
"We took it at our own pace," Theo said, though Rachel knew she was the reason it had taken so long. "Now, what else is happening at Hogwarts."
"Well, we should tell you about the new Ancient Runes professor," Ginny said.
Rachel was relieved for a change of subject and settled in to listen. She was glad that part of it was over with, even though she had wanted her friends to know.
"Well, spill," Millie said as she and Hermione eagerly followed Rachel into her bedroom that evening. Midnight and Crookshanks followed them in before Hemione could shut the door.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"You have to tell us everything," Hermione said. "About you and Theo."
"We've been waiting all day to get you alone," Millie said, practically bouncing in place.
"There's really not that much to say," Rachel said as she sat down on her bed. Feverfew came over to her, but didn't settle down as she watched Midnight and Crookshanks sniffing around.
"You're dating," Hermione said, sitting down opposite Rachel. "That's big. How did it happen? What happened?"
Millie sat down on the end of the bed. "Last time we talked about this, you said you didn't like Theo that way. What changed?"
Rachel shrugged. "It's complicated."
"You do want to date him, don't you?" Hermione asked, eyebrows arching.
"I do. And we're sort of approaching this as trying it out and seeing how it goes. It's not like this is a marriage proposal," she said, feeling they were making way too big of a deal over this.
"We know, we just want what's best for you and this is a big step," Millie said. "Does Professor Snape know?"
"Not yet." She was planning on doing that at Easter. After everything she'd talked with Severus about, she thought he would be okay with it.
"What about Sirius?" Hermione asked.
Rachel winced. "That one might be more difficult. I don't think Sirius has ever really been supportive about the idea of me dating."
"He'll get used to it. You're an adult now," Millie said.
"I know, but I'm worried about what he might say to Theo in the meantime."
"I don't think Theo will be scared off by Sirius. They've known each other for years now," Hermione said. "So, how did it happen? Did he ask you out?"
"He asked her out when we were sixth years and she said no," Millie said.
"I wasn't ready," Rachel said. "And that was not a particularly good time for me."
"We know," Millie said, looking sympathetic. "That was a rough year. We're glad you're doing better now."
Midnight jumped up onto the bed and she and Feverfew sniffed each other for a moment before Midnight started grooming Feverfew. Feverfew seemed to tolerate it, since she didn't swat at Midnight, but she also didn't seem particularly pleased. A quick look around revealed that Crookshanks was watching them from the windowsill.
"Does it have to do with you taking Theo to all these Ministry dinners?" Hermione asked.
"A bit. I didn't want to keep subjecting him to that if he wasn't…if it wasn't real. I think it was hurting him," Rachel admitted.
"And so you discussed it and you just decided to date?" Millie asked, tilting her head.
"More or less. We talked about what dating would be like and agreed we wanted to try it." Rachel supposed that wasn't very romantic, but she thought that was better than just saying yes to dating without knowing what she was getting into.
"Sounds reasonable, I suppose. And as you said, it's not a marriage proposal," Hermione said after a moment. "As long as it's what you really want to do. You have to tell Theo what you want and what you don't want, rather than just agreeing to something that you're unsure about."
"I will," Rachel said. She thought she could do that for the important things at least, even if it was uncomfortable.
"Has he kissed you?" Millie asked, her eyebrows raised now.
"No. I don't think kissing is on the agenda."
Millie and Hermione exchanged glances. "Well, no one is saying you have to kiss if you don't want to. I've only had one kiss," Hermione said.
"Wait. Who? When?" Millie demanded.
Rachel looked at Hermione and found her blushing.
"Viktor, after the Yule Ball. He was very sweet," Hermione said, clearly gathering herself. "Dating wouldn't have worked, obviously, but he was very kind to me."
"I'm glad he was kind to you," Rachel said.
"Not a bad way to have a first kiss," Millie agreed.
Hermione sighed. "I'm not really sure how to fit dating into my life. I haven't really met anyone I want to date yet, and I don't know how I'd fit them into my schedule these next few years anyway."
"Well, I think the first part is meeting someone you want to date," Millie said. "Your schedule doesn't really matter until you find someone, and if it's important to you, you'll find the time."
"I suppose so," Hermione said. "What about you? Prospects?"
It was Millie's turn to blush. "Well…"
"What?" Rachel asked.
"There's a girl at the Spell Crafting Guild. And she's just finished her Mastery. And she's a Ravenclaw, she was three years ahead of us at Hogwarts. And I've met her a few times now. Her name is Natalie. And she mentioned in passing that she has an ex-girlfriend, which means she at least dates girls. And she's really nice and she's pretty," Millie said.
"Sounds promising," Hermione said.
"What are you going to do about it?" Rachel asked, curious more than anything else.
"Talk to her more. I'm not sure she really knows who I am yet. Once she knows who I am, maybe lunch. We'll see," Millie said, her blush fading.
"That seems like a good plan," Hermione said and then sighed. "Sometimes I feel like we are very adult, and sometimes it feels like we're still just kids trying to figure things out."
"Well, we honestly didn't do that much socializing while we were at Hogwarts. It's new, so we're going to feel awkward at first. It was a little rough being without all of you and meeting people at the Spell Crafting Guild, but it got easier," Millie said.
"I miss having all of us in class together. I'm glad Susan is with me because I haven't really made any other friends in the Healers Training Program," Hermione said.
Rachel wasn't sure she'd call any of the new people she'd met at the Ministry friends, but she was glad that she had people she was familiar with there.
"To be honest, the people in your training program sound like pureblood snobs," Millie said.
"Maybe. I think a lot of it is just a lack of understanding. But there's also a lack of willingness to understand, and I think that's the bigger problem."
Rachel nodded. Understanding they could fix. Not being willing to learn was a much harder obstacle to overcome.
"Well, it's not like you're staying with the Healers, so you don't have to put up with them forever," Millie said with a shrug.
"That's true enough. Two more years with the Healers then onto my Masteries," Hermione said, nodding to herself. "How much longer do you think you have the with aurors, Rachel?"
"Not that long. Attacks are becoming more and more infrequent. I haven't been called out since I was put back on the on call rotation. As far as I know, the plan is for most of the people on the teams to join the Auror Training Program once they teams are dissolved. That should give them plenty of people for a rotation to respond to any uncommon attacks."
Millie nodded. "It will be a little bit of a relief when you're not with the aurors anymore, honestly. I don't think it's a bad thing that you did it, but we worry about you. Because we care about you. We worry about Draco and Ron too."
"Draco and Ron seem like they're doing alright with it. I know Ron plans to join the training program. Not sure about Draco," Rachel said.
"It must absolutely make Minister Scrimgeour and Madam Bones nervous to have two of their new Wizengamot members chasing down Death Eaters," Hermione said.
Rachel nodded. "I didn't get the impression that Minister Scrimgeour was terribly pleased about it."
"What's he like?" Milile asked.
"Pretty straightforward actually. He seems nice enough, though I know he's dealing in heavy politics. My goal is basically to get as much from him as he gets from me."
"That's one way to do it, I suppose. I'm glad I'm not the one dealing with politics, I'd be terrible at it," Hermione said.
"I don't think I'm particularly great at it either," she admitted. "We'll see how well I'm doing when it comes time to vote on my proposal."
"I think people will vote for it. I know it's controversial, but I think you can convince the right people and some of the rest will want to vote for it to gain your favor," Millie said.
"We'll see," Rachel said. Right now she and Booker were keeping a careful tally of where everyone stood. She still had a lot of work to do before the vote.
Hermione yawned and tilted her head back. "I know this is silly, but I'm sort of glad we're not at Hogwarts anymore."
"I don't think it's silly. Hogwarts was stressful," Millie said.
Rachel nodded her agreement. Her life was still stressful, but it was nothing like her last four years at Hogwarts.
"And we'll have Luna and Ginny with us in another three months, and that will be nice too," Hermione continued.
"That will be nice," Rachel said. It would be good when their group was whole again.
"Happy Easter," Rachel said as she came into the kitchen on Sunday. "Smells good. Roast?"
"Roast and potatoes," Severus said, glancing at the pot that wasn't quite boiling. He had agreed to do an early Easter dinner with Rachel so that she could attend an Easter dinner with most of her friends in the evening. He had one pot with potatoes, one pot with green beans, and another with gravy. "Happy Easter to you as well. How was your week?"
"Not bad. Pretty much the same as usual. You?" she asked, going over to his owl and offering it her hands.
Severus watched her for a moment. If she persisted in doing that, one day she was going to get bit by an unfriendly owl. "My week was uneventful. I attended a guild function yesterday. Emlyn indicated she's looking forward to working with you and inquired how your work with the aurors was going."
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her based on the reduction in Death Eater attacks and the number of Death Eaters who have been captured that your team was successful in reducing the Death Eater threat and that we anticipate the attacks to fall off entirely in the next few months," he said, most of which he'd gathered from what Rachel had told him and what was reported in the newspaper.
Rachel nodded. "I haven't been called out in almost three weeks."
"Are you on call tonight?" he asked, hoping she wasn't since holidays were often times of Death Eater revelry.
"No, beta team is taking tonight since my team took Christmas."
That was a relief then. "Have the aurors mentioned disbanding the teams?"
"Everyone is talking about it, but there's no firm date yet. At least another month or two," she said with a shrug. She moved away from the owl perch and leaned against the counter. "The longer it takes, the more I'm looking forward to doing my Mastery. I've been researching sleeping potions for months now and I'm starting to reach the point where I'm theorizing about new recipes. I had to order an index of what was contained in back issues of different potions journals, and then order the individual issues that had the articles I need."
"Once you're working with Emlyn you can just use the Guild's library rather than having to order the issues yourself," he said, though he was glad she was doing her research properly. "What have you discovered?"
"I think one of the big problems is that most sleeping potions are too strong. They knock people out completely, which isn't good for a lot of reasons. I think what we really need is different sleeping potions for different problems."
"What do you mean?" he asked, checking the gravy as it bubbled.
"Well, say someone's problem was they woke up consistently after a few hours of sleep. They don't need a potion that knocks them out, they need a potion that lets them fall asleep naturally and then keeps them in a sustained sleep. Or if a person does have trouble falling asleep, they need something that eases them to sleep, but doesn't force them to stay asleep. Nightmares is a little harder of a problem to solve from an addiction standpoint since there are several ingredients in both Dreamless Sleep and my modified Dreamless Sleep that can't safely be used every night, the Sopophorous bean being the main culprit. Fixing that one is going to require a new recipe entirely, there's no fixing the current Dreamless Sleep potion the way that it's done," she explained.
Severus nodded. "Are you planning on inventing all these potions?"
"I'd like to, though I don't know how practical that is."
"That's something to bring up with Emlyn. In fact, I want you to show her your research so that you can write a review of the current state of sleeping potions for the journal. That would be a good article for you to have to your name if you intend to establish yourself as a sleeping potion brewer." He was pleased that she was taking her career so seriously. Most brewers didn't publish until the end of their Mastery and this would be the second article that Rachel had to her name.
"This whole publishing in journals thing is a big deal, isn't it?" she asked.
"It is. It's how you establish your reputation as a brewer, both within Britain and internationally. It's not enough just to invent or modify potions, you need to be able to present your work to the community."
"The newspaper didn't make a big deal about my last article. Maybe they won't care about this one either," she said after a moment.
"I don't see that they would. A review of the current state of a type of potion is a common article. I don't think there's anything for them to read into it," he assured her.
"Oh, there is something I should tell you before it winds up in the newspaper."
Severus felt his eyebrows raise as he considered what could have happened now. "What's that?" he asked, aiming for neutral. He thought he almost succeeded.
"Theo and I are dating," she said, her eyes focused on him.
That was not exactly a surprise, so he nodded. "You and Theo worked things out to your satisfaction?"
"He said he isn't going to pressure me about anything, and that we can put our friendship first, and that we can just try it and see how it goes."
Severus watched her for another moment. "You want to date Theo?" he checked.
"I think so. It's very hard to figure that sort of thing out, but I think so. And if it doesn't work, I'm okay with that. I think the plan is just that we take things slow and go from there," she said with a shrug.
It wasn't exactly the resounding yes that he'd wanted, but at the very least it sounded like she was entering into this of her own volition. "At some point I'd like to chat with Theo, but that can wait a while."
"What are you going to say to him?"
"I just want to make sure we have an understanding and I know Theo will treat you with respect. If Theo is important to you, then he is important to me too," he told her. After knowing Theo for seven years, he thought that Theo would treat Rachel gently and with respect, but it didn't hurt to be certain.
Rachel nodded. "That's how I feel about people who my friends are dating. I want to know them too, because they're important to my friends."
"Exactly," he said. "Who among your friends is dating?"
"Neville is dating Hannah," she began.
That was certainly interesting. Severus had rather suspected they would avoid each other after nearly being forced to marry each other.
"There's a girl that Millie likes, but she doesn't know her very well yet, so we'll see how that goes," Rachel continued. "Hermione says she hasn't found anyone she likes well enough to date. And I think Draco needs some time to recover after his break-up with Pansy."
Severus nodded his approval. "It would be wise for Draco to take some time and discover who he is before he dates again." He opened the oven door and used his wand to assess the roast. "Another twenty minutes or so."
Rachel smiled. "Are you doing alright?"
"Yes, I am fine. Are you?" he checked.
"Yes. Things are pretty good right now."
And wasn't that a relief to hear. "Good. I'm glad."
"Are we telling Sirius today?" Theo asked.
"We can if you want to. I'm not sure how well he's going to take it, and it is a holiday," Rachel pointed out. "I'd rather not do it in front of everyone, but we can take him in the sitting room and tell him."
"It's up to you, Rachel. He's your godfather," he said. "It doesn't have to be today if you don't want it to be. The only other thing to consider is that we're going to be seen together at the Minister's Mansion on Saturday, so the newspaper might tell him before we do."
"I'd rather we were the ones to tell him instead of the newspaper," Rachel said, checking her watch. "Do we want to go fifteen minutes before we're supposed to be there and talk with him? We have enough time to do that."
"We can do that," he agreed. "Does Professor Snape know? I kind of feel he should know before we tell Sirius."
"I told him today."
Theo paused for a moment, seeming briefly worried. "Can I ask how he took it?"
"It was fine. He sort of already knew this was going to happen because I asked him for advice about it. By the way, don't ever ask him about his dating history," she said, not wanting Theo to walk into that situation.
"Wasn't planning on it, but good to know. That bad?" he asked.
Rachel nodded. She could completely understand why Severus hadn't dated again after that. "And he wants to talk to you, but said it could wait for a little bit."
"That's not surprising."
"It's not?"
"No. Any father would want to talk to the person dating his daughter. That's just how it's done. I take it that isn't as common with muggles?"
Rachel shrugged. "Honestly, I wouldn't even know, but it's not something I ever heard of while I was living with muggles, but I also didn't know anyone who was dating either."
"Makes sense. Your perspective on muggles was all before you turned eleven years old. It's amazing how short of a time can influence a person though, even just in general knowledge and customs."
"I guess I still don't see the muggle world and the magical world as being all that different. People are just people. I don't even think it's as different as visiting a culture in another country," she said.
Theo's mouth flattened briefly. "It feels pretty different to me. I think if I was on my own I'd have trouble managing things in the muggle world."
"But if you spent a little time in the muggle world, you'd pick up most of it just by being there and by having a handy guide on cultural traditions. I bet even a tourist guide for London intended for foreigners could teach you what you needed to know." Rachel realized that she should make a note in her book that the customs she was writing about were only applicable to Britain and that the customs would be different in other countries.
"Perhaps. I feel like watching the television has taught me some things I didn't know, just in how people talk to each other."
"Well, in some of the scripted programs, those things don't happen in real life either. It depends on what you watch," Rachel cautioned. "Just like with some of the books we read, some of those things aren't realistic."
"I'm more interested in the things that can actually happen. Maybe we could make another trip to a muggle bookshop. As a date?" he suggested.
Rachel nodded. "We can do that. We'll need to change some money at Gringotts first, but we can do that. This upcoming weekend probably won't work, but maybe the weekend after that?"
"That works for me," he said, smiling now. "We should let the others know we're leaving early so they aren't looking for us."
"I'm sure they're around here somewhere," Rachel said as she stood. "Everything alright?"
"Yes. You?"
"Pretty good," Rachel said, though she was nervous about telling Sirius. He was overprotective of her in a different way than how Severus was overprotective.
"Anything I can do to make it better?" he checked.
"No, just making it through the rest of today and then having a quiet evening will be enough for me." She didn't find Easter to be a particularly stressful holiday, but it had been a busy day.
They went downstairs and found Neville and Draco in the sitting room.
"Millie and Hermione aren't back yet?" Rachel asked.
"Haven't seen them yet," Neville said. "They said they'd be back by five and it's not quite four thirty yet."
"We're going to go over early to have a chance to speak with Sirius privately," Theo said.
"Good luck with that," Draco said, looking amused.
"It will be fine," Rachel said, heading to the fireplace. She threw in some floo powder. "Twelve Grimmauld Place. Sirius? Remus? Can we come through?"
"Come on through," came Remus' voice.
Rachel stepped into the fireplace and exited into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place a few moments later. She moved out of the way and dusted herself off, Theo arriving a moment later.
"Hello. We didn't expect to see you quite this soon," Remus said from where he was by the stove. "Happy Easter."
"Happy Easter to you too," she said. "Theo and I came a bit early to talk to you and Sirius."
Remus looked them over and nodded. "Last I saw Sirius he was talking with Malcolm in the sitting room. Have Sirius come in here so I can keep an eye on things while we talk."
Rachel nodded and left the kitchen, glad for a chance to see Malcolm as well. She did find Sirius in the sitting room, but Malcolm wasn't there.
"Ah, Rachel. Either you're early or I'm running late," Sirius said as he stood.
"I'm early," she said. She went to him and hugged him. "Happy Easter. How are you?"
"Well enough, all things considered. How about you?" he asked, hugging her back.
Rachel backed away a step as he released her. "I'm pretty good. There's actually something I wanted to talk to you and Remus about, and Remus said for us to come to the kitchen."
"Haven't killed any other Death Eaters who we know?" Sirius checked with a smile.
"No, I haven't killed anyone since the last time," Rachel promised. She intended for that not to happen again, as much as it was within her control at least.
"Good to hear," Sirius said as they moved to leave the sitting room.
"Where is Malcolm?"
"Oh, he's around here somewhere. Saw him just a bit ago. He doesn't get into much mischief, so it's probably fine," he said. "He'll turn up for dinner, always does."
Rachel figured she'd find Malcolm at some point in the near future, but time to deal with Sirius first. Inside the kitchen she went to stand next to Theo and watched Sirius take a seat at the table.
"Now what's this? Wedding announcement?" Sirius asked.
She sighed. Sirius had to make this more difficult, didn't he? "No. Theo and I wanted to tell you that we're dating."
Sirius blinked at them a few times. "Well, didn't see that coming."
"Sirius," Remus gently rebuked. "Rachel, Theo, that's lovely, though I'm sure the press isn't giving you an easy time of it."
"We anticipate that the Daily Prophet will continue to write nonsense about us," Rachel agreed.
"So you're really dating? After all this time?" Sirius asked. "I would have thought that after seven years you would have either decided to go for it or not."
"James and Lily knew each other for six years before they dated," Remus reminded him.
"Well, yeah, but as far as I know, Theo has always been respectable, unless they've been hiding some wild side from us all these years," Sirius said.
"Things at Hogwarts were very stressful, I wasn't ready to date while all of the stuff with the war was happening," Rachel explained, which had the benefit of also being true.
"I'm glad that things have relaxed more for you now then," Remus said.
Sirius switched his focus to Theo. "You'll treat my goddaughter right?"
"Yes, sir," Theo said, steadily meeting Sirius' gaze.
"Good. Because I know where you live."
"Sirius," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Honestly. You've known both of us for nearly five years now."
"I know. And I think that Theo is a very respectable young man. That doesn't mean that I won't raise holy hell if he treats you poorly," Sirius said, nodding. "Snape will do just the same, and if you're wise, you'll be more afraid of him than you are of me."
"Everything will be fine," she said. "No one is treating anyone poorly."
"Good, make sure it stays that way," Sirius said.
Malcolm peered into the kitchen. "Should I stay out?"
"No, please come in," Rachel said, ready to be done with that conversation.
Malcolm came over to the table, looking around as if assessing the general mood of the room.
"How are things at Hogwarts? How is Slytherin House?" Rachel asked.
"Good. Professor Farley is a really different Head of House, but she's kind to us," he said.
"Ready for your OWLs?" Theo asked.
"Not really. I'm ready in a few subjects, and I think that's where my focus will be. Sirius says he doesn't care if I fail History," Malcolm said as he sat down.
"Not only do I not care, I highly encourage it. The more people who fail the History OWL, the more evident it will be that something needs to be done about the History professor," Sirius said.
"That's an interesting way of looking at it," Theo said.
Rachel was torn. They did need a new History professor, but the idea of failing an exam absolutely killed her inside. "The exams aren't as hard as they seem. They really only test you on a small subset of what you've learned. You have guides?"
"I do and I've read them. I'm not too worried," Malcolm said. "The subjects I really need for a Mastery I'll do fine in."
"That's the most important part to focus on," Theo agreed.
"How are you finding the DA?" Rachel asked.
"Good. I think I'm getting close to a corporeal Patronus. I'm hoping to have it by the end of this year. And I'm going to start co-leading the group next year."
"That's wonderful. I'll be excited to see what your Patronus form is. Is Professor Farley teaching the Patronus in class too?" she asked.
"Yes, practicing it is one of our weekly assignments," Malcolm said.
"That's good to hear," Theo said. "I'm glad they're teaching that to everyone now."
"I'm impressed that you and your group have changed how people view that charm," Remus said. "It makes me wonder if there are other spells where we're missing something in how it could be taught with more success."
"Oh, probably," Sirius said. "We were usually doing spells well ahead of the course work, when they were useful of course, and I know Rachel and her friends were the same."
"You're all exceptionally powerful though," Malcolm pointed out. "Rachel and her study group were some of the best students at Hogwarts. You can't expect everyone to do what they do."
"That's true, to a certain extent," Remus said. "Most spell casting isn't about raw power. With enough effort, anyone who is even moderately powerful can make their way through all of the Hogwarts curriculum."
Malcolm shrugged. "I just think it makes sense to specialize in what your interests are rather than trying to learn everything."
"And that's what most people do and that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do as long as you have the basic skills you need in other areas," Theo said. "What NEWT classes are you planning on taking?"
"Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Charms, Defense, and Astronomy," he listed.
"Astronomy?" Rachel asked.
"I just like the class and it has applications in Arithmancy."
"Makes sense, that's a good course load too," Theo said.
"Hello? May we come through?" Millie's voice came from the fireplace.
"Come through," Remus called. "Just about time for dinner, let me check the ham."
Rachel smiled to herself as her friends came through the floo. It was nice to celebrate the holiday quietly with Severus, but this was nice too.
"Rachel, lovely to see you," Andre said. "And you as well, Theo."
"It's nice to see you again," Rachel said honestly. She liked the Minister's husband.
"Yes, we're happy to be here," Theo said, and amazingly he seemed to be honest about that as well.
"Keeping yourselves busy?" Minister Scrimgeour asked.
"About the same as last time," Theo said. "I'm very much enjoying my mastery and I know Rachel is looking forward to starting hers soon."
"Who are you apprenticing with?" Andre asked.
"Emlyn Clough," Rachel said.
The Minister and his husband both nodded sagely. "Emlyn is well known in the potions community, I think she'll be a good fit for you. When are you planning to start?" the Minister asked.
"Once they disband the auror teams. I haven't been called out for nearly a month, so I think we're getting close to wrapping up."
Andre smiled. "I think just about everyone will give a sigh of relief when you're no longer chasing after Death Eaters. I don't think you realize how nervous you make everyone."
Minister Scrimgeour nodded and switched his drink from one hand to the other. "I don't fault you for what you're doing, I actually applaud your commitment to the war. But there are a number of well placed people who would much rather you were safely tucked away."
"I understand," Rachel said. "I really don't think I'm in more danger by being on the auror team than I am anywhere else. When I'm called out, I'm with a very skilled group."
"I've heard good things about the teams. I was more than a little wary of the proposal to use people who weren't yet trained as aurors for this, but it worked out better than I expected," the Minister said. "Now tell me about you two; is there a wedding in the near future?"
Rachel felt herself flush.
"It's not something we're planning on at this time. Rachel and I would like to let our relationship develop naturally and without anything being rushed," Theo said.
"Spoken like a gentleman," Andre said. "Theo is right, of course. Take your time. There's no need to rush this sort of thing. It took Rufus and I a fair amount of working up to it."
"Of course," the Minister said. "I know it's not easy to date when you have so many eyes on you, and especially while you need to be taking extra precautions in public. Hopefully we'll have that situation resolved in the near future."
"Hopefully," Rachel agreed, but she anticipated that situation not being resolved until the person writing the letters attacked her.
"We'll let you socialize. Drinks are already served, but dinner will be served in thirty minutes," Andre said.
"Thank you," Rachel said, Theo echoing her.
They steered themselves away from the Minister and his husband and took a look around the room. Again there were about a dozen people in attendance, but mostly different people than the last dinner.
"Where do we want to start?" Theo asked.
"Just need a moment first," she said, taking a slow breath. This wasn't so bad. She'd attended several dinners like this now and it wasn't as nearly overwhelming as the Christmas ball had been.
"Let's look like we're getting drinks," he said, offering her his arm. "That will give us a few minutes."
Rachel took his arm and allowed him to steer her towards where a man was serving drinks behind a counter.
"White wine for both of us, please," Theo said.
"Right away, sir," the man said, moving to pour from his bottles.
A moment later Rachel and Theo were both holding drinks. "You don't have to drink it. Just raise it to your lips every so often," he said quietly.
Rachel nodded. She knew the value of maintaining appearances and it gave her something to do with her hands instead of awkwardly holding them in front of her. They moved to the side of the room and Rachel got a good look around. "Should I even bother with Ansel Turner? I'm not sure he's ever going to vote for any proposal I'm promoting," she asked quietly.
"He might on this. I can't imagine anyone friendly to the Death Eaters wants their people in Azkaban. Besides, think of the benefit if you can win him over," Theo pointed out.
"That's true." She continued to look around the room.
Callum Fletcher from the Artifacting Guild was here tonight, alone. Linette Thompson was also here alone, though Rachel had already talked to her about the proposal. She'd make sure to stop by just to say hello and reinforce that connection. Stephen Bryant and Dolph Jenkins were socializing together in a corner with their wives. Adam Harkness and his wife were now talking with the Minister and Andre.
"Let's start with Turner then and get it out of the way. It should become apparent pretty quickly if he's not willing to talk with me," Rachel decided. "We can catch Linette next, and then get the others after the meal."
"Sounds like a plan," Theo said. He offered her his arm again and they walked together to where Ansel Turner was standing nursing what looked like a whiskey.
"How are you today, Wizengamot Member Turner?" Rachel asked.
He looked them up and down for a moment. "I know what you want."
Rachel felt her muscles tense and got ready to back away in a hurry.
"I'll vote for your proposal because I agree with it, not because I'm willing to vote for you," he continued. "Don't take this as meaning more than it does."
"I understand, thank you," Rachel said.
"Go, girl. Bother someone else," Turner said.
Rachel and Theo left quickly.
"Well then," Theo said once they were safely across the room.
She nodded. "A vote is a vote, right?"
"I think that's how we should look at it," he agreed. "How about Linette?"
"Yes, let's try her," Rachel agreed. She knew Linette would at least speak with them. This had the makings of being a long night.
Rachel was surprised to discover it was past nine when she woke up on Sunday. She almost never slept that late. Then again, it was rare that she stayed out past eleven. The dinner at the Minister's Mansion had gone long and Rachel had only managed to climb out of her gown and directly into bed when she'd gotten home last night.
She pulled on a jumper and a pair of trousers and used her fingers to gently comb through her hair and pull it back. Then she put on her glasses and her jewelry.
Feverfew meowed at her.
"I bet you've already had breakfast. I know Kreacher feeds you at seven thirty," Rachel said.
Feverfew meowed again.
"You realize I can just ask the House Elves and they'll tell me," she pointed out.
The cat sat and managed to look disappointed.
Rachel went to her and ran her hand down Feverfew's back a few times before scratching behind her ears. "I don't give you more food because it wouldn't be good for you. You know that. You're a smart cat."
The look that Feverfew gave her suggested that she did know that, but wanted the food anyway.
She waited until Feverfew was done being pet and then went into the bathroom to wash her face. As usual, even despite the sleep she'd gotten last night, she still had dark circles under her eyes and she could see that she looked tired even though she didn't feel more tired than usual. Maybe she did need to use make-up. She supposed she could always ask Daphne for help.
Downstairs she found the kitchen empty, which suggested the rest of the group had already dispersed to do whatever they were planning to do today. She went to check in the sitting room and was surprised to find everyone there.
"We need to talk," Theo said, standing up.
"What's wrong?" she asked, feeling her stomach twist.
"Daily Prophet again," Miillie said. "It's bad. Do you want just Theo or do you want all of us?"
"Can I see it?" she asked, wondering what could have happened in the space of twenty four hours.
Theo brought her the paper and Rachel swallowed hard at the headline.
'Girl-Who-Lived's Boyfriend's Father Tortured Her Over Their Romance.'
She managed to exhale as she read the article. Millie was right, it was bad. It painted Theo as a manipulator and Rachel as a mental case. Rita Skeeter suggested outright that Theo shared his father's proclivities and that Rachel had been conditioned to accept abuse and punishment. The article finished with the question of whether or not Rachel should be with the aurors, or even on the Wizengamot.
"Can we talk?" Theo asked when Rachel lowered the newspaper.
"Yes. Where?" she asked, wondering if Theo was deciding they shouldn't date after all.
"Either of our rooms is fine," he said.
Rachel nodded and led the way out of the sitting room, back up the stairs, and into her bedroom. She sat down on the bed and watched as Theo sat in her desk chair. Feverfew arched her back at him and darted over to Rachel. She took a moment to pet Feverfew and reassure her, since she was obviously picking up on the tension in the room.
"Before this article was published, who knew about what my father did?" Theo finally asked.
"Our friend group. Severus. Sirius and Remus. I wasn't sure what was going to be revealed at Selwyn's trial and I didn't want any of them to learn about it from the newspaper. Madam Bones, Head Auror Robards, and one of the Unspeakables watched my memory when we were preparing the case against Selwyn, so they all saw it. I would be surprised if Minister Scrimgeour didn't know, though I didn't tell him. Madam Bones assured me the only people in the MLE who had access to that memory were people who were actively working on the investigation. I know they used that memory to identify and charge other Death Eaters."
"Then the MLE has a leak somewhere in their department," Theo said. "I know none of our friends would speak to Rita Skeeter, and Professor Snape, Sirius, and Remus would sooner curse Skeeter than give her information about us."
Rachel nodded. "They suspect one of the clerks was giving people information about me and they conducted an investigation. I will follow up with Madam Bones and see what they've found out, though I think I would have heard by now if they'd actually caught someone. It might not be the same person though. Someone is giving information about me to whoever is writing the threatening letters."
Theo ran his hand over his mouth and looked increasingly worried. "If they're doing it for money, or because they hate you, it could be the same person."
She thought about that for a moment and felt like a lightbulb had gone off in her mind. "They're making the same demands! Head Auror Scrimgeour said that the letter writer might try to make their demands known to the public, and they just did."
"What demands?"
"In the last letter that they wrote, they demanded that the Ministry not reinstate me to the aurors and they wanted me removed from my seat in the Wizengamot. They also wanted my Order of Merlin revoked. In the article, Skeeter suggested that I shouldn't be allowed on the aurors or the Wizengamot."
Theo's brow furrowed. "There's no way Skeeter can be the letter writer, can she?"
Rachel thought about it for a long moment and then shook her head. "No, for a few reasons. I don't think she knows about the letter writer or she'd be publicizing the threats against me. And why would she want to kill me, or even take away my seat on the Wizengamot, when that would stop giving her opportunities to write about me? If what she wants is fame and attention, she's getting that by writing about me. If she was the letter writer, she would be writing about the letters every time they were sent. She would have written about the aurors questioning the clerks."
He sat quietly for a minute or two and then nodded. "That makes sense to me too. She doesn't want you dead or out of the public view, she just wants a controversy. If she knew about the threats, she'd be publicizing them, which narrows down our suspect list quite a bit."
She sat with, trying to push at her mind to make the connection that Theo just had. "Either way, if they hate me or if they just wanted money, they would have sold the information about the letters to Skeeter if they had it. So this person didn't know about the threats to me, but they knew about the contents of that memory."
"That has to be a narrow group of people, doesn't it?" he asked.
"I would think so. I'm going to Madam Bones first thing tomorrow morning. Actually, I'm going to send Gladys to her home with a letter so that she's expecting me. We will find this person." Rachel felt the flood conviction leave her. "Not that it fixes what happened. I'm so sorry, Theo. I knew they were going to keep writing about us, but I thought that was buried deep enough that Skeeter wouldn't be able to find it."
"There's another possibility that I hate to even bring up," Theo said.
"What's that?"
"That there isn't a leak and Skeeter is getting this information in some way we can't detect." He shook his head. "I know that sounds ridiculous, but her information about you has been too good for years now. We've always written it off as another student at Hogwarts selling information to her, but I'm starting to question that now."
"Well," she said after thinking for a moment. "An easy way to prove or disprove that is to see if we can find a leak. You're right that there can't be many people with that information, and I'm certain that Madam Bones and Head Auror Robards, and probably even Minister Scrimgeour have a vested interest in closing the leak in the MLE. If they don't find a leak, that suggests that Skeeter is getting information in a way we haven't thought of yet."
He nodded. "What do we want to do about the larger picture?"
"Do you want me to go with you to Master Jorgensen and explain things?" she offered, hoping that this wasn't going to cause trouble for Theo in the Spell Crafting Guild. "I can speak with Douglass Bennett as well, he represents the Spell Crafting Guild in the Wizengamot."
"Master Jorgensen won't need the explanation. He's aware from the last round of articles that Skeeter is obsessed with you and I'm getting caught in it. If you want to speak with Bennett, well, I can't see the harm in that."
"I will," she promised. She could go under the guise of presenting her proposal to him and segue into the conversation about Theo and Master Jorgensen. "Do you…do you still want to date me?"
"Yes, I do. We knew this was going to keep happening. While the content was a surprise, the fact that it's happening isn't. And, at this point, I think we can safely say that there is nothing else for the Daily Prophet to uncover about me," he said, shaking his head again.
"They might write that you were taken by your father by Family Services," she pointed out.
"There was already a notice that Mrs. Zabini was given custody over me in the Daily Prophet late that summer. If they want to rehash that, it's fine. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they dragged Professor Snape or Sirius into it, saying they were bad parental role models for you."
Rachel sighed. She definitely did not want that to happen. She was sure Severus and Sirius wouldn't appreciate that either.
"Do you want to keep dating? This goes both ways." He was looking at her now, seeming just as worried as he had been when they were talking about the letter writer.
"I do," she said after a moment. "I'm not going to be scared away from things I want to do just because of the newspaper. If I let that happen I'd just hide in the house and never leave. I want to live my life, and if that means the newspaper watches me live my life, so be it."
"I'm starting to think we should be glad that the magical world doesn't have television. You'd be on their news programs all the time," he said, his mouth lifting in a small smile.
Rachel winced. "That would be awful. I'm so glad Hermione decided to be a curse specialist instead of trying to bring equivalents of muggle technology to the magical world. We might be spared video cameras for another fifty years."
"You really think it would happen so soon?" Theo asked.
"They already have omnioculars. That's the basic recording technology right there. Now they just need a way to broadcast what they've recorded and something for people to view it on. I'd say if the right people were involved, it would be surprising if it took more than a few decades. Just think, they could record Quidditch matches for people to watch in their own homes. They could record Wizengamot meetings so people can see what the people representing them are doing. I bet they'd start putting on plays and that would lead to the types of programs that muggles have too."
"It doesn't sound so bad when you put it like that. It would give people access to things they might never get to see," Theo said. "Can you imagine a magical computer though?"
"I think that one is going to take a while longer. Computers are already much more sophisticated than when I left the muggle world. They've changed a lot in seven years. I bet they'll keep changing," she said. "Are you alright?"
Theo sighed. "I'm not exactly pleased. This was something I'd rather not have people know about my family. It's not that I want to hide my father's crimes. I just don't want to be associated with them. Are you alright?"
"I'd rather people have not known that at all. It's private. I feel like every time the newspaper writes about the things that have happened to me, they're taking something from me."
"They are. They're taking away your opportunity to talk about it to people and to be the one to share it. A lot of the things that they've written about you shouldn't have been shared with anyone that you didn't choose to share them with. No one has the right to that information about you," he said firmly. "If the newspaper wrote specifically about what my father did to me, I'd feel that they had violated my privacy. And they just violated both of our privacies today."
Rachel nodded. "Maybe this will be enough that they can actually do something about Rita Skeeter. This wasn't information she was supposed to have."
"Maybe it will be. If a crime was committed in obtaining this information, and they can prove it, maybe they can do something about her." He stood and moved closer. "Can I sit?"
"Yes," she said, patting Feverfew, who was now more relaxed but was watching Theo closely.
Theo sat next to her and Rachel took his hand.
"Let me know when you're ready to talk with everyone else. They're worried."
"I will. I just need a moment," she said, squeezing his hand. As much as she didn't want the newspaper to be writing about him, she was glad she had him with her through all of this.