Rachel wasn't sure what she was expecting from Madam Bones' home, but it wasn't the enormous house she was looking at. It was Christmas Eve and there was a light snow falling. She could see another pair of people making their way up the path to the front steps.
"Ready?" Theo asked.
"Too late now," she said. "Ready or not, we're here."
Theo took her hand and they made their way down the path.
There was a pair of MLE guards at the front door and Rachel handed one her invitation. "Thank you, Wizengamot Member Snow. You and Mr. Nott may enter," he said after checking the invitation.
"Thank you," she said, bobbing as Theo bowed.
Neither of them had bothered with cloaks since they hadn't intended to be outside for long, and they went through the entrance hall and into a large open space. A ballroom, Rachel realized with a shiver. She tightened her grip on Theo's hand as she looked around. There was a string quartet at one end of the room and about fifteen couples dancing in the center while more couples socialized around the outer edges of the room.
While Rachel's gown was about as fancy as she was willing to go, she did feel a little bit under-dressed after seeing what some of the other women were wearing. Some of them had wide full skirts on their gowns, like they were wearing layers and layers. Others had glittering gems sewn on the fabric. All of them were in rich colors and most of the women also had elaborate hairstyles.
The men were a little more somber, most of them in dark colors and close cut closed dress robes. The only reason Theo stood out at all was because he was a decade or two younger at a minimum than most of the people there.
"Our first stop should be finding Madam Bones and thanking her for hosting," Theo said quietly.
Rachel nodded and began scanning the crowd with renewed purpose. "There, with the Minister," she said, spotting both of them at the other side of the room.
She continued to hold onto Theo's hand, even though she knew she should probably let go. She felt on edge for reasons she couldn't explain, and it was more than just being surrounded by people or being at a fancy ball. A few people called her name as she passed and Rachel paused for a moment to say hello and to introduce Theo while they introduced their spouses, but fortunately nothing else seemed to be required of her.
"Ah, Rachel," Madam Bones said, turning as Rachel and Theo approached. She was wearing a sleeker gown in dark blue, going against most of what Rachel had seen the other women wearing. Rachel herself was in a pale blue gown today that had only a moderately gathered skirt.
"It's wonderful to see you. Thank you for hosting the ball, everything looks lovely," Rachel said, curtsying while Theo bowed.
Madam Bones waved her hand dismissively. "Space and security is what we're looking for right now. We'll have other people host events once things are more settled down. Theo, it is good to see you again. How is your mastery going?" she asked as the Minister joined their conversation.
"Very good, thank you. I've been learning a great deal from Master Jorgensen. I'm certain you're very busy with the MLE and the Wizengamot," Theo said politely.
"We're always busy with the MLE and the Wizengamot," Minister Scimgeour said with a hint of humor to his tone. "A government's work is never done, as I'm sure Rachel can attest to."
"I know I only see a little bit of it, and it's busy enough," Rachel agreed. "How are you and Andre?"
"We're doing well. We see too little of each other, but that is always the case," the Minister said.
"I keep telling Rufus to go home before eight o'clock in the evening or his husband will find a nice younger man to settle down with," Madam Bones said, though it was clear from her expression that she was teasing.
"Andre would be so lucky," the Minister said. "It's good to see both of you. Come sit near me for the meal."
"We'd be glad to," Theo answered when Rachel hesitated.
"Go have a good time," Madam Bones said with a smile.
"Thank you," Rachel said, recognizing they were being dismissed.
Theo guided her further into the room and Rachel looked around again. She saw Ethan Davies and his wife Mistress Davies. She'd have to make a point to say hello to them before dinner. With them she saw Janice Hawthorne, who had her arm around another woman who must have been her wife. As she looked around the room she saw that while same sex couples were not the norm, there were several of them. "People really don't care?" she asked Theo quietly.
"Care about what?" Theo asked, following Rachel's gaze around the room and then looking at her.
"About same sex couples. There's no stigma?" she asked.
"Not really. The only time it ever comes up is producing heirs for a pureblood line," Theo said.
"Then why doesn't Millie want to tell her parents? She didn't want to tell anyone, not even Daphne and Pansy," Rachel asked.
"I think Millie's relationship with her parents is more complicated than she's letting on to us. As for not telling Pansy and Daphne, well, maybe she liked one of them and just didn't feel comfortable having that conversation," Theo suggested.
"Maybe," she said. She couldn't remember Millie ever saying anything that indicated she liked Pansy or Daphne like that, but then Rachel also recognized that she was absolutely terrible at knowing when people liked each other.
"Is it a problem in the muggle world then? You seem surprised that it isn't here."
Rachel thought about that for a long moment. "My perspective might be skewed. Most of what I learned of muggle culture I learned before I was eleven. I know my relatives thought it was a bad thing, but they were generally horrible people about a lot of things. Kids made fun of other kids in school if they thought they were gay. I don't recall ever actually seeing a gay couple, but I didn't really see very much of the muggle world when I was a child. Just from what I understand, if the Prime Minister were gay, it would be a really big deal. Like the newspapers would make a huge deal about it. But I've never even seen anything in the Daily Prophet about the Minister having a husband."
"Well, here, the Minister having a husband wouldn't be news unless it was his wedding or something," Theo said. "Who is that? She's staring at you. Turn slightly in the direction I'm looking but do it naturally like you're just glancing around."
She used a hand to brush her hair away from her face as she turned, like she was looking away from Theo for a moment to fix her hair, and noticed Anyssa Selywn in a blood red gown across the ballroom looking in their direction. "That's Anyssa," Rachel said as she casually turned back to Theo.
"Hmm. I want to see if she keeps watching you. Let's dance for a number or two and see what happens," he said, tugging her towards the center of the room.
Rachel let him, because she was also curious, and she'd actually prefer to dance with Theo instead of making small talk with Wizengamot members and their spouses. It still felt strange for him to hold her so closely, with her hand up on his shoulder and his hand on her hip. She didn't worry too much about specific steps and just let Theo lead her in a lazy circle near the other dancers.
"Still watching, but if anything she's even less happy than she was before," Theo murmured.
She took another glance and saw that Anyssa definitely looked upset about something. "No idea. She was polite to me when I met her a few weeks ago."
"Keep your guard up around her. Something isn't right there," he said.
"I'm planning on it," Rachel said. For the time being she was going to dance with Theo and prepare herself to talk with people over what was probably going to be an uncomfortably formal dinner. She was looking forward to the part when she could go home and change into something more comfortable and be with her friends on Christmas Eve.
It was nine o'clock in the morning by the time Rachel went downstairs. They'd been at the ball until past eleven last night and then they'd sat in the sitting room as a group talking about the ball. Neville had apparated Hannah back to The Leaky Cauldron and had returned thirty minutes later flush with cold. Draco had politely returned Padma to her home, but had come back immediately.
"Breakfast for Miss?" Kreacher asked when Rachel reached the kitchen and found it empty.
"No, thank you. I'm going to eat with Severus and then be back in the afternoon," she told him. "Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas to Miss," Kreacher said. "Miss should sleep more."
Rachel thought that was probably true, but there was little she could do about that at the moment. "I've got presents for you and Dobby. Do you want them now or do you want them later when we do presents as a group?"
"Later, Miss. But in private," Kreacher said.
"That's fine. We can do gift giving in private." She perfectly understood not wanting people staring. "Where is everyone?"
"Miss Millie and Miss Hermione are gone. Mister Draco is abed. Mister Theo and Mister Neville are in the sitting room," Kreacher listed.
"Alright, thank you. I'm just going to let them know I'm going. I'll see you in a few hours," she said. She went into the sitting room and found Theo and Neville watching an animated Christmas program on the television. "Are you both alright?"
"We're fine," Theo said. "Happy Christmas."
"Yes, Happy Christmas," Neville echoed.
"Happy Christmas," she told them. It worried her a little that they didn't have a family to go home to for Christmas. "I'm going to go see Severus, but I should be home by three."
"I hope you have a good time," Neville said.
"Say hello from us," Theo said, raising an eyebrow.
"Will do," she said. She went back upstairs, put on shoes in case she wound up outside for some reason, and picked up her present for Severus.
She apparated into Severus' sitting room and found him in his armchair with a cup of tea. "I'm always worried that I'm going to startle you by just appearing. Should I apparate into my room upstairs instead?"
"Here is just fine. I always know about when to expect you and you otherwise don't startle me. There is no one else who would simply apparate into our home. Happy Christmas," he said, looking up at her.
"Happy Christmas. Here, I'll go first. I know it's kind of cheating, but it was the best thing I could think to give you," she said, placing the square box into his hands before going to sit on the sofa.
"I will always appreciate whatever you choose to give me," he said, pausing over the gift. "I take it you have not yet seen today's newspaper?"
"No. What now?" she asked. "No, don't tell me. I'll look after we do gifts and stuff."
"As you wish, but as always, I am available to talk with you for whatever you'd like to talk about. And if you would prefer a woman's perspective, I know Minerva would be willing to offer advice as well."
Rachel frowned. "It's about me and Theo, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Her frown turned into a scowl as she tried to remember if Theo had looked upset this morning. She didn't think he did, but now she wasn't sure. She shook her head. "Later, I will deal with it later."
Severus nodded and got to work opening the gift she'd given him. Underneath the wrapping and the box was a fine silver pocket watch that was not dissimilar to the one he had given her for her birthday a year and a half ago.
"I know you worry about me, but this was the best thing I could think of to hopefully give you some peace of mind. They couldn't get it specific to which part of the Ministry I'm in, so it just shows 'Ministry' rather than the Wizengamot or the MLE," she explained. She had also had them put 'Quidditch' as one of the specific options, which would translate to any of the stadiums in the British Isles, and had kept 'school', which would be her apprenticeship for her mastery once she started. There were also the standards like 'home' 'hospital' 'traveling' and 'mortal peril'.
She'd inquired about the mortal peril one at the artifcator's shop, since a person could be in mortal peril at any of those places, and the shopkeeper had simply told her that the watch sensed when the subject was in a situation where they were likely to be killed and the hand went there as the state overrode any other location. Apparently the Ministry had a sensor like that for the Minister and some other of the higher level officials like Madam Bones and the aurors were dispatched immediately if their hand should go to mortal peril.
Severus looked down at it for a long moment. "Thank you. Both for the gift and the sentiment. I do worry about you. Some of the activities you engage in are dangerous, some by their nature and some just because of who you are. I will keep this close."
"And I still wear my message bracelet, and I've seen that my friends all still wear their message jewelry as well, just in case. We know the danger hasn't passed."
"I continue to wear my pendant, just in case," he said with a nod. "I'm glad you are wearing yours as well. Open your stocking."
Rachel retrieved her stocking from the mantel. "You realize I'm a little old for stockings? I appreciate everything you give me, but I don't want you to feel obligated."
"I do not feel obligated, I simply like our tradition."
"I like it too," she said, feeling aware of how lucky she was to have a family. She was planning to write to her parents tonight, but she was exceedingly glad that Severus had been there for her when her parents couldn't be.
She upended her stocking, uncertain what she was going to do with the large candy cane as she felt her mouth would go numb from that much sugar, and found that she was particularly thankful for the wool socks. She supposed that the fact that she was more interested in the socks than the sweets meant she was growing up.
Severus passed her two more presents, which she opened, finding a winter cloak that did not have the Hogwarts crest and a gift account for Flourish and Blotts. "Thank you," she said. "The cloak will come in handy and I could do with some new books over the holiday."
"At some point, when you're ready, I'd like to come see you play in a game for the League," he said, rising. "I need to check on the roast."
Rachel followed him into the kitchen. "I can get you tickets. I'm not sure when the first real game that I'm playing for the Harpies will be. Seren says some time in late spring. I think she wants to put me against a more cautious Seeker for my first time out."
"I appreciate her concern for you," Severus said, peering into the oven.
"Well, I've been learning a lot of defensive and evasive maneuvers in training, so I'm not too worried. Once the other Seekers learn they can't take me out of a game by fouling me, they'll stop." At least, that was the theory. Rachel would wait to see what actually happened.
"I hope that is true, for your sake and for the sake of my heart," Severus said, poking inside with a long fork and then standing back up and closing the oven door again.
"It will be alright," she assured him. She caught sight of the folded newspaper on the kitchen table and opened it. "Oh, honestly."
"I know."
"Who the hell gave them that headline?" she asked as stared down at the paper. 'Girl-Who-Lived's Dangerous Romantic Entanglements' indeed.
"I'm certain Skeeter was up late researching everything she could find on the Nott family," Severus said, watching Rachel as she read the article.
Rachel didn't have to ask who had told Rita Skeeter. There may not have been press at the ball, but Rachel had plenty of political enemies there. Now she had to figure out what she was going to say to Theo. They'd known that rumors of them dating would be going around, but for Rita Skeeter to declare that Rachel was consorting with a known Death Eater family was something else entirely. She figured she'd start with an apology and see where things went from there.
"I take it you don't know if Theo has seen it?" he asked when she folded the newspaper up again.
"I don't know. He didn't say anything about it to me this morning," she said, feeling another rush of irritation. Theo's father was dead and they published this story on Christmas morning.
"Do you want to go talk to him?"
Rachel considered it and then shook her head. "I'll talk to him when I get back. I might go thirty minutes before we're all planning on meeting so I can speak with him privately."
"Privately does seem like the best way to handle it. I am sorry they are doing this to you. You do not have the usual opportunities for privacy that most people receive," he said, his gaze still on her.
She shook her head again and sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm not upset about me or my lack of privacy. I'm angry that they're doing this to Theo. He…if he's dealing with his father's death, he hasn't talked to me about it. I'm worried about him."
Severus came to the table and sat down opposite her. "Would it make sense for me to speak with him? I lost my own father when I was his age and had a somewhat similar relationship."
"Maybe. He's not…he's not having a breakdown over it like Pansy is. He's not denying his feelings like Draco is. I don't know what Theo is doing. He's a fairly private person, which just makes it worse that the newspaper is doing this to him."
"I can write to him and offer to speak with him, but I also do not want him to believe I am doing so because I believe the rumors that you are dating." He raised an eyebrow here.
"We're not dating. We're…I don't know what we're doing. I don't even know what dating looks like," she admitted.
Severus looked slightly uncomfortable. "I'm afraid my experience in this area is somewhat limited as well. I have not dated much and it has been a long time. From my understanding, typically dating will look like a series of outings and time spent alone together, with the intent of seeing if you are compatible for a romantic relationship."
"We're definitely not doing that." Rachel sighed and dropped her chin onto her hand. "I don't know what to do. I don't even know if Theo wants to date me."
"I think the issue more pertinent to you at the moment is if you want to date Theo," he pointed out.
Rachel stared down at the table. "I wouldn't mind dating Theo if dating didn't come with all sorts of other stuff."
"Dating does not have to come with anything you do not want it to. You can set limits, and if those limits are not acceptable to the other person, then don't date them," he suggested.
"I don't think it works that way." Weren't people who dated supposed to kiss? She didn't want to do that. Maybe it was prudish of her, but she just did not want to do that. And then there was the whole sex thing, which she did not want to do either.
"I think people, especially young people, tend to confuse romance with dating," he said after a moment.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I mean that they are two separate activities that often accompany each other, but they have different structures."
She looked at him and then shook her head. "Why can't this be like potions? I understand potions. Potions make sense."
Severus smiled ever so slightly. "Perhaps I would have had more success in dating if it was like potions as well. Romance generally involves feelings for someone. I've heard it described a number of different ways by different people. I'm not sure there is any single defining aspect to romantic feelings. You can feel that way towards someone and it may or may not be reciprocated. Dating, on the other hand, can happen in situations where you do not know if you have those feelings yet, but you'd like to find out. Dating is a negotiation. You are allowed to set boundaries and so is the other person. If either of you cannot live with those boundaries, then you are incompatible to date. It's important to set boundaries, because that is part of being honest with someone and a relationship should never be formed on a lie."
"I guess I don't know why anyone would want to date me with the sort of boundaries I would want to set and all of the-" Rachel waved her hand toward the newspaper "-ridiculousness that comes with being around me."
"That is for the other person to be concerned about. Your task is to determine if you even want to try dating someone, with the knowledge that they may or may not accept your boundaries, and your needs might not be compatible with their boundaries. But you won't know unless you talk about it with them."
"I don't know that I want to date," she found herself saying.
"Then spend some time thinking about it or talking to someone about it. Torey may be a good resource here as well. There is nothing saying that you have to date, nor do you have to make a decision right now," he said. "I do, however, think it's important that you at least talk to Theo about the newspaper."
"I will. I'll see if he knows what he wants to do about it. I'd like to do something about Rita Skeeter, but I haven't figured out anything that isn't at least somewhat unethical."
"Most of my ideas for dealing with Skeeter are fairly unethical as well," he admitted.
Rachel suspected that she and Severus had very different ideas, but that was alright. Maybe another solution would come to her, one she could actually live with.
Returning home at two thirty - thirty minutes before the group had planned to meet - Rachel found the house quiet. She peered into the kitchen first and found Draco seated at the table with a meal. "Hey," she said, walking over to the table. "Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas," he said, nodding to the newspaper. "I assume you saw that?"
"I did. Is Theo upset?" she asked, figuring he must have seen Theo today.
Draco shrugged. "Hard to tell. I think he was expecting there would be something, but he didn't really know for sure until now if people knew his father was a Death Eater. Could be worse, they could have said other things."
Rachel nodded. They could have written about what Theo's father had done that night. She could just see that as a front page headline if Rita Skeeter ever found out. "Do you know where Theo is?"
"He went upstairs a little while ago," he said with another shrug. "I'm not sure how much he wants to talk about this."
Well, she had to try. She couldn't just leave things this way. "Are you alright?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"It is Christmas…"
"I'm aware of the date, thank you. And, just like last year and the year before, I'd rather be spending the holiday with you and the rest of our friends than with anyone else," he said, giving her a look that she knew meant to drop the subject.
"Alright. If you want to talk about anything, I'm around," she offered.
"Thanks," Draco said flatly and returned to his meal.
Rachel left the kitchen and went upstairs. In her bedroom she put away the gifts she'd received, pet Feverfew from where she was lounging in her bed by the window, and then went up another flight of stairs. Theo's door was closed and Rachel considered it for a long moment before knocking.
A few moments later the door opened and Theo peered out at her. He took a step back and waved her into his room, closing the door behind her.
"I'm sorry," she said at the same time as Theo said "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm worried about you," she said.
Theo sat down on the edge of his bed. "I'm fine. It wasn't something I enjoyed reading, but we sort of knew this was going to happen. I didn't exactly expect them to insinuate I was a Death Eater, but I suppose it's not surprising."
Rachel frowned as she sat down next to him. "It's absurd. You left your father when you were fifteen. They should know that. If Rita Skeeter was able to get records that your father was a Death Eater then she should also know that you left."
"She probably does, but it doesn't fit her narrative. She wants dirt on you. She wants to make you look bad, and telling people that you're dating someone who escaped from the Death Eaters just reinforces your image, while saying that you're dating someone who might have been a Death Eater makes people question your choices. This article wasn't about me. She was just using me to get to you," Theo said, shaking his head slightly.
"Still, it's not fair to you at all. What is Master Jorgensen going to say?" she asked.
"Master Jorgensen knows that my father is dead and he knows why. He will never believe that I'm a Death Eater, nor would anyone else who knows me. I'm not worried about the guild. Master Jorgensen will vouch for me and he's very well thought of. People will listen to him. Also, I don't think anyone who knows you will think you'd date a Death Eater either."
"I wonder if Anyssa told Rita Skeeter we were there together. She was staring at us," Rachel said, thinking back to the ball to try and tell if anyone else suspicious had been looking at them.
"It's a good possibility. Her family has a grudge against you. You also had other enemies at that ball who would have been glad to give Skeeter dirt on you."
Rachel nodded. She had a fair idea of who her enemies were in the Wizengamot. It was a little strange that she was now more worried about slander in the newspaper than she was about Death Eater attacks. "Do you want me to try to make some sort of statement to the newspaper? Something that says you aren't a Death Eater?"
"No. We don't want to encourage them. People will believe what they believe, and you giving a quote will just add more fuel to the fire. Also, we don't want you to sound defensive. And I don't think telling them we aren't dating is going to work at all." He patted Rachel's knee. "I think we just do what we tried to do in school for the most part and ignore what they're saying."
She sat quietly, wondering if they should talk about the dating thing. The trouble was that she still didn't know what to say. Did she want to date Theo? She had no idea. She couldn't even picture it. She could tell their relationship wasn't the same as Draco and Pansy's relationship, but she didn't know what it should be like either. What she did know was she didn't want to hurt Theo.
"Are you alright? I'm sure you didn't want to be reminded of your father on Christmas," she finally said, deciding she needed to figure out her own thoughts on dating before she discussed it with Theo.
"It's Christmas. I was already thinking about him."
Rachel took his hand and he twisted his hand around to hold it.
"There are probably a lot of people dealing with this today," he said after a long silence. "Everyone lost someone in the war."
"That's true," she said. Last Christmas seemed like a lifetime ago. She wondered what Dudley was doing. She found herself hoping that his parents were watching over him the way hers were watching her.
A knock on the door startled both of them. "Theo? Did you want to join us? Everyone's here," Millie called.
"I'll be there in a moment," he called, squeezing Rachel's hand and then looking at her. "This is important too. We have a family here."
"We do." Rachel almost had more families than she knew what to do with. She liked it that way.
"Ready?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm going to take a minute to give Kreacher and Dobby their presents, then I'll be down. Kreacher preferred to do that privately."
"That's fine, we'll wait for you." Theo stood and made his way toward the door.
Rachel followed him and they went downstairs. Rachel broke off on the first floor and went into her bedroom and shut her door. She retrieved the presents she'd bought for Kreacher and Dobby and sat down on the floor so she was on their level. "Kreacher? Dobby?"
Both House Elves appeared in her room. Someone had put a Father Christmas hat on Dobby. Feverfew sat up and watched them. She hadn't seemed to have decided how she felt about the House Elves yet, so she mostly avoided them.
"Happy Christmas, Miss," Dobby said.
"Happy Christmas to you too," Rachel said, handing each of them a wrapped present.
"Thank you, Miss," Kreacher said.
"For Dobby?" Dobby asked, examining the present.
"Yes, for you," she said. She wondered if House Elves celebrated their birthdays or even kept track of such a thing. She'd find a way to ask later.
Kreacher vanished the wrapping paper on his to find a padded dog bed that was about his size. Rachel felt bad for getting him a dog bed, but he was still sleeping on the floor in a pile of blankets instead of the bed that was in his room, so she wanted something comfortable for him if he felt he could not use a bed. "For your room, to sleep on if you want to," she told him.
"Thank you, Miss," Kreacher said. It was difficult to read House Elf expressions sometimes, but she thought he at least looked interested.
Dobby unwrapped his rather than vanishing the paper and uncovered several sets of new clothes and robes in his size. "Miss Rachel! Thank you, Miss! Dobby has a whole wardrobe of clothes!"
Rachel smiled. "I wanted you to have some more options."
"Dobby will wear them now. Thank you, Miss!" he gathered the clothes and disappeared with a pop.
Kreacher now looked disapproving, that expression was clear enough. He vanished the wrapping paper that Dobby had left behind. "Miss Rachel and Mister Theo are well?"
"We're well enough," she said.
He didn't look entirely certain, but he gathered his bed and disappeared.
Rachel went to collect Feverfew, who climbed into her arms and set her head against her shoulder. "There's something downstairs for you too, but you have to share with Midnight and Crookshanks," she told her. Rachel had already given her some charmed catnip mice this morning.
She went downstairs and found the rest of the group gathered in the sitting room, most of them gathered at the desk in the back corner. "Here you go, nice place for you to sit and look out from," she told Feverfew, putting her on a platform on the new cat tree.
Feverfew began sniffing it with interest and Rachel left her there and went to see what everyone was looking at you. "You got a computer?" she asked Hermione.
"I did. My parents spoil me a bit," Hermione said. "Anyone can use it, but no using magic of any sort on the computer."
"What do you do with it?" Draco asked. "It's just showing that picture and it's not moving."
"Oh, lots of things. We'll do computer lessons in a bit, but now we have everyone here, so we should do gifts," Hermione said.
Everyone dispersed to the Christmas tree to find the present marked with their name. Before long the whole group was settled down and Rachel couldn't help but think how much they'd all grown since they'd done this for the first time together in their fourth year.
"All together?" Millie asked.
"Yes, definitely," Ginny said.
There was a mild chaos as they unwrapped gifts and Rachel was pleased to get another two Discword Books - Mort and Wyrd Sisters this time. She also received The Subtle Knife, which was the next book in the His Dark Materials series, and the new Winifred Adams book. That would keep her busy for the next month or so. There were homemade sweets as well, which Rachel thought she could manage to try, and a nice yearly planner for 1999, which she had mentioned needing. It was really nice that she had people in her life who knew what she liked.
Around the room her friends were examining new books and sharing sweets as they chatted and arranged to borrow each other's books. Rachel settled back against the sofa and felt a strange mix of gratitude and loss. She was glad for the people in her life. And she was keenly aware of all the people in their lives who were gone. She supposed they'd live with that dichotomy for the rest of their lives.
"Happy Christmas," Sirius said, engulfing Rachel in a hug.
"Happy Christmas," she told him, hugging him back. Hugging Sirius was easier than it used to be. She was both used to it now and assured that he would let go when she pulled back.
"You remember Andromeda and Ted?" he asked, directing her to where Tonks' parents were standing.
"I do, it's nice to see you again," she told them.
"It's nice to see you too," Andromeda said with a smile.
"Tonks tells us you're a crack shot, which isn't praise she gives out very often," Ted said,
"Dad," Tonks complained, moving closer from where she'd been talking to Remus, Theo, and Malcolm. "I said that you are very skilled for your age and that you and Draco both hold your own in the field despite being Wizengamot members."
"I'm not sure what being a Wizengamot member has anything to do with it," Rachel said.
"Most of them, Cousin Sirius excepted of course, think themselves too valuable to actually pitch in and do anything," Andromeda said.
"Though I'm certain having you in the field must be giving the Minister and the Head of the MLE a coronary on a regular basis," Ted said, still smiling.
"Let's just say I have strict instructions not to lose Rachel or Draco," Tonks said, winking at Rachel.
"I heard my name," Draco said, joining them. "What aren't you supposed to do?"
"Let you and Rachel get into trouble," Tonks repeated with a smile.
"Oh, well, I don't think there is any stopping Rachel from getting into trouble," Draco said.
"Hey!" Rachel complained, turning to look at him. "I do not get into trouble."
"Need I recount our years at Hogwarts?" he asked.
"Most of that was not my fault," she insisted.
Sirius' eyes were gleaming with mischief. "Remember when you followed me and Hermione's cat down a dark tunnel off school grounds?"
"Well, yes, but I I thought you were a dog."
"And nearly getting yourself killed on the Quidditch pitch multiple times," Draco added, to Tonks' and her parent's laughter.
"I was fine. The only time I was in any real danger was because of the Dementors," she protested.
"The time you nearly flew into the stands in our fifth year?"
"I had a headache!"
Everyone in their group was laughing now and Rachel was managing to smile despite feeling slightly indignant. Most of the trouble she'd been in was not caused by her.
"Oh, running a secret Defense club," Draco said.
"You were in the club too, and you were a spy on the Inquisitorial Squad," she shot back.
"At your behest and Umbridge wasn't after me," he said.
"I think you both had far more adventures at Hogwarts than I ever did," Tonks said.
"Thank Merlin for that," Andromeda said, wrapping her arm around Tonks' shoulder. "I was so relieved when you were Sorted into Hufflepuff."
Ted nodded. "Hufflepuffs are generally less in the middle of things. Sometimes there's an advantage to that."
"Well now they're all free of Hogwarts and ready to cause trouble in the MLE and the Wizengamot. If anything will make the Wizengamot more lively it will be having these two around," Sirius said.
"I literally cannot imagine the Wizengamot being lively. I want to strangle all of them," Draco said with a grimace.
"Spoken like a true Wizengamot member already. If you don't want to murder half of your colleagues, you're not doing it right," Sirius said.
"I fear for our government," Andromeda said, groaning melodramatically.
"You should have feared for them the day I took the Black seat," Sirius said.
"I did, believe me, I did," she said, rolling her eyes and then smiling at Sirius.
"What does the Wizengamot bring for us next?" Ted asked.
Sirius shook his head slightly. "More debates on the Muggle Protection Act. We'll be lucky to get half of it voted on by spring. They're tearing apart each provision. You'd think we would have left this behind with the war."
"Just because they were against the war doesn't mean that they're pro-muggleborn," Ted said with a nod. "And muggles themselves are a step beyond that for most of them."
"I think we should make the Wizengamot go spend some time with muggles," Rachel said. It was the exact same principle as her idea to have them go spend some time in Azkaban if they thought it wasn't so bad. Maybe if they actually spent time with muggles they could see them as just people. "Or maybe they just need to watch some television."
Ted laughed. "I'm a little afraid of what the purebloods on the Wizengamot would make of some programs. The wrong ones might convince them to be terrified of muggles."
"They're not so bad," Draco said.
"You watch television?" Tonks asked, sounding like she wasn't sure if she was surprised or if she didn't believe him at all.
"I've seen some. I have even seen some movies," Draco said, sounding a touch haughty.
Rachel suppressed a smile. It was definitely a sign that things could change if Draco actually sounded proud of seeing some movies.
"Welcome to the twentieth century," Ted said. "There's a lot more to muggles than just television and movies, but it's a good start."
"I've read some books too," Draco insisted. "And I know about electricity and plugs, and Hermione brought home a computer."
"I want a computer," Tonks said, looking at her parents.
"What would you do with it?" Andromeda asked.
"Traynor in Misuse of Magic has one, he's muggleborn. He's shown me his games," Tonks said.
Andromeda turned to look fully at Tonks. "You've been to his home?"
"Yes, mom. And no we're not dating, don't look at me like that. I'm twenty five years old, I can go to a friend's flat if I want to, even if he's a man," Tonks said, sounding like they'd had this conversation before.
"I just want you to be responsible," Andromeda said.
Tonks sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Speaking of dating, you and Theo, huh?" Sirius asked, looking Rachel up and down.
"No," Rachel said firmly.
"No?" he pressed.
"Just no. I promise, if I am dating someone, you will hear about it from me and not from the newspaper," she said.
"They give you so little privacy, it's unbelievable," Andromeda said, shaking her head.
"Any ideas on what to do about Rita Skeeter?" Ted asked.
"Beyond getting her fired, which I don't want to do, I don't know," Rachel said.
"Unfortunately I don't think she can be shamed or blackmailed," Sirius said. "Someone would have done it by now. She's been writing about the Wizengamot for years and many of them would have the resources to do that."
"Direct threats are probably also not an option. I hate to say it Rachel, but you still don't look very threatening," Draco said.
"That's okay. That just means people will less expect it when I am threatening," Rachel said. She was well resigned to being small and feminine.
"That's a Slytherin answer if I've ever heard one," Andromeda said with a touch of approval in her tone. "I would imagine Skeeter is used to being threatened by now regardless. The only way to deal with her is to get her blacklisted in Britain."
Rachel perked up. "How would someone go about doing that?"
"By proving that somewhere in her work she had something so far beyond the societal understanding of propriety that she should no longer be allowed to speak for Britain," Andromeda said.
"If the things she wrote about Rachel in our fifth year weren't that, I don't know what would be," Draco said.
"And the Daily Prophet was censured for that," Sirius said. "You'd have to prove Skeeter was involved at a deeper level, such as her being the Death Eater contact that allowed the initial article to be printed."
"They don't know how the article even got there?" Rachel asked. She hadn't asked these questions at the time. She'd been too freaked out about the whole situation to concentrate on much more than the fact that everyone knew those sorts of things about her.
Tonks shook her head. "Since the Death Eaters were involved, the aurors headed up the investigation into what happened at the Daily Prophet with that article. There was definitely foul play. We found memory modifications in the editor who allowed the publication of the article, but we never found a contact or any idea of who it was."
"A man named Caspar was involved somewhere along the way. It was his idea to the Dark Lord to use that information then. They were trying to undermine Professor Dumbledore's position at Hogwarts," Rachel said, remembering the vision she'd had not too long after that whole fiasco.
"Probably Caspar Dormer then. He was one of the Death Eaters that we found at Hogwarts," Tonks said.
"Dead?" Rachel checked. She was sure she would have remembered the name if he had been on trial.
Tonks nodded.
"Do you have any idea how Rita Skeeter found out about Theo's father?" she asked.
"Some MLE records are public. She would have found his name on the list of Death Eater bodies who were recovered at the battles," Tonks said.
"Well, it sounds like we have a general idea of how to deal with Skeeter, now we need to catch her in the act of something. Can I assume that the MLE is watching her as a threat to Rachel?" Sirius asked.
"We're keeping an eye on her. Madam Bones knows she's a threat to Rachel and to the Ministry," Tonks said.
"Dinner is on the table," Remus called.
"Come on, let's eat," Sirius said, motioning them away.
Rachel found herself seated between Theo and Malcolm. Malcolm sat next to Sirius, and Remus was on Sirius' other side. She glanced down the large table and was glad to see the faces of so many people she cared about. And Andromeda had given her a lot to think about.
"A toast," Sirius called, raising his glass. "To the families we build."
"To the families we build," the table echoed.
Perhaps predictably, Rachel's team was called out on Christmas night to an attack in Reading. She was still waiting for the day when some unfortunate muggle heard the sounds of a battle in the night and peered out their window to see magic at play. Hopefully they would dismiss it as a dream and go back to bed.
It was cold, which was probably also to be expected since Rachel hadn't bothered wearing a cloak, and the houses were spread far enough apart that they were mostly fighting in the dark. Rachel took another step back as a Death Eater moved closer and she sent the Stunning spell multiple times, trying to drop his shield. She could feel her heart racing as she dodged a Killing Curse from someone nearby, the green light in the corner of her eye the only thing telling her to move.
She turned, trying to see if there was another Death Eater closing in on their position. Once again, she and Tonks had been cordoned off from the rest of the team and Rachel was certain they were doing it on purpose.
Dropping her shield and casting the Stunning spell again to try to force the other Death Eater back, Rachel was only barely aware of the spell coming towards her from the first Death Eater. She had enough time to see a lurid yellow light coming at her, her wand moving to cast her shield while she scrambled to dodge, and then she was down.
She was vaguely aware that she was in pain, but she was much more aware of the Death Eater approaching with his wand pointing at her. She had dropped her wand and Rachel raised her right hand rather than feel around for her wand. "Stupify," she said, giving it as much power as she could and hoping that she could actually do wandless magic without practicing the spell first. A red light flashed from the palm of her hand and the Death Eater was knocked off his feet and went skidding away.
Tonks finished driving the second Death Eater back, cast the Incarcerous spell at both downed opponents, and then knelt next to Rachel. "How badly are you hurt?"
Rachel, now more aware that she was in pain and that she was wet and grimy, managed to wrap her left hand around her wand. "Not bad."
"Can you get up?" Tonks asked, sparing her a glance before continuing to watch for anyone approaching.
"Yeah," Rachel said, moving to push herself up and then discovering that she was lightheaded. "Maybe not yet."
Tonks, not much more than a shadowy outline turned to look fully at Rachel. "Symptoms?"
"My arm hurts, but I don't think it's broken. I'm a little dizzy," Rachel said. She had the strange urge to lower her head, even though she was partially in a bank of slushy snow.
Tonks looked around again and then lit her wand, keeping it low to the ground and blocking the light with her body. "Shit."
Rachel looked at her right arm and stared at the blood. Starting at her shoulder her sleeve was missing and it seemed like her skin might be missing as well. Blood was running freely down her arm. It seemed unreal that it was coming from her.
"Shit," Tonks said again. She extinguished her wand. "I'm going to bandage you to try to slow the bleeding. Can you hold your arm up?"
She managed to do so and felt a sharp pain as bandages wrapped tightly from her shoulder to her elbow. "Where is everyone?"
"Back there. I can't tell if the fighting is over," Tonks said, turning and looking around again.
"You can go look. If you put a Disillusionment charm on me, no one will find me," Rachel offered.
"So you can pass out and freeze to death before we find you, no thanks," Tonks said. She cast her Patronus charm. "To Frederick Johansen. We need backup when you're done." Her rabbit bounded away.
"Won't that bring the Death Eaters here?" Rachel asked.
"They'll have to find us first," Tonks said. "I'm disillusioning both of us and then we'll let Johansen know where we are when he sends us a message."
The Disillusionment charm, when cast by someone else, felt like a small jolt of electricity running over her skin. Rachel decided to just be grateful that she still had skin in most places to feel that.
"How are you holding up?" Tonks asked.
"I'm in a puddle," Rachel said. She could feel herself starting to tremble.
"Alright, Let's try moving to a bit of pavement. I don't want us to get hit by a car by moving into the street," Tonks said. "Can you sit up?"
Rachel managed to sit up and felt Tonks helping boost her under her left arm. It was very strange to be doing this while both of them were invisible. Tonks was supporting most of her weight, but Rachel managed to move her legs until they reached a bit of pavement that was mostly dry. It was a relief to lay down.
"Can you feel your bandage? Are you bleeding through it?" Tonks asked.
Rachel groped at her arm with her left hand. Everything felt wet and cold, but maybe that was just because she was wet and cold. "Can't tell."
"We're giving them five more minutes to show up then we're leaving and I'm taking you to the backdoor," Tonks said.
"We can't abandon the team," Rachel objected.
"We're not doing them any good right now," Tonks said.
A silvery bulldog raced over to Tonks. "Five retreated, we've got one down here. Where are you?" came Johansen's voice.
Tonks ended the Disillusionment charm for both of them. "To Frederick Johansen. We went west, I've got two Death Eaters down here. I need to take my partner back to the backdoor," she told her Patronus.
Johansen's bulldog came back about a minute later. "Go. We'll round up our prisoners."
"This might feel a little rough," Tonks warned, holding Rachel's uninjured shoulder.
"Ready," Rachel said. A stomach turning moment later they were back in the building that housed the back entrance to the MLE. Rachel dry heaved. Side-along apparition was always more unpleasant than doing it herself.
Tonks went to the fireplace and called the auror offices. "Jenkins, I need the Healer at the backdoor."
"On it. Less than five," Jenkins called back.
"You're bleeding through, I'm going to put another layer on. And let me dry you before you catch a chill, if you haven't already," Tonks said.
"The aurors teach first aid?" Rachel asked, She was glad to be inside but she still felt frozen.
"We'll do some basic Healing courses in the spring. Just stuff like bandages and potions and when to abandon the battle to take your partner to a Healer. Better to leave than to let your partner die," Tonks said, looking grim. "Sometimes that's not an option. Sometimes you have to keep fighting because you can't get out from the anti-apparition wards. Sometimes you're guarding a larger group of people. You do what you can."
Rachel nodded and closed her eyes. Sometimes there was nowhere to retreat to.
"What am I looking at?"
"Arm injury, unknown spell, looks like they took her skin off, but it just glanced her. She's been in and out," Tonks said.
Rachel opened her eyes and wondered how long she'd had them closed.
Healer Dawes knelt down next to her, his wand at work.
Rachel squirmed under the diagnostic spells. Some days being able to feel magic was a curse all on its own.
"Nice job with the bandages," Dawes told Tonks. He began pulling potions out of his kit. "Take these."
"What are they?" Rachel asked.
"Blood Replenishing Potion and Pain Relieving Potion. I want you to take them before I remove the bandages because this isn't going to be pleasant," he said.
Rachel examined the vials, but she thought they looked right for those potions. She took them and lowered her head again. Maybe her seminal work in potions needed to be modifying potions so they tasted good. Or at least so they didn't make the person want to vomit upon taking them.
"Rachel!" It was Draco's voice and he sounded panicked.
"Stay back," Dawes said.
Rachel opened her eyes to find Draco and Ron looking at her from near her feet. Draco looked half panicked and Ron was pale with bright red on his cheeks from the cold.
"What was she hit with?" Draco demanded as the rest of the team edged closer.
"We don't know," Tonks said.
"It was yellow," Rachel said, closing her eyes again as Dawes vanished the bandages.
"Yellow?" came Johansen's voice.
"It removed her skin," Tonks said.
"We should ask one of the curse breakers," Miles said. "But why were they casting that and not the Killing Curse?"
"Did we get the Death Eater that cast this?" Johansen asked.
"Yes, you found them both?" Tonks asked.
"Right here. Taylor, Collins, Bletchely, and I will take them down to the cells and log them. We can do interrogations in the morning," Johansen said.
"Anyone we recognize?" Tonks asked.
"No, no one we have photos of at least," Johansen said. "Can you make the report to Shacklebolt?"
"Once I'm finished here," Tonks said.
Rachel listened as the rest of the team was organized into dealing with the Death Eaters they'd captured and then quietly disappeared through the floo.
"All done. You're going to want to coat that in Healing Salve and change the bandages every twelve hours. Pain Relieving Potion as needed, but not more than twice a day. You are off for the next seventy two hours. If I see you back in the MLE before that I'll bench you for a week," Dawes said.
"Draco, can you get her home and watch her?" Tonks asked.
"I can," Draco said.
Rachel opened her eyes and then managed to sit up. Her body felt very heavy and she did want to lie down again.
"Ready?" Draco asked.
"Ready," she said, bracing herself for another side-along apparition.
Draco took them directly into the sitting room and then turned on one of the lamps. "Do you want your bed or on the sofa?"
"Sofa, for now," Rachel said. She wasn't ready to tackle the stairs yet. "I need out of this robe first, it's gross."
Draco knelt next to her and carefully threaded her arm through the hole where her sleeve had been over the bandages and then pulled the robes the rest of the way down her other arm. "I suppose that's why they gave us three sets," he said, dropping her robes on the floor. He then wrapped his arm around her middle and hauled her up onto the sofa before bending back down and tugging her shoes off. "Never thought I'd need to know a clothes changing charm. Are you still wet?"
"No, Tonks dried me. I'm just cold," she said, resting her head against the back cushions of the sofa.
Draco cast a warming charm at her, conjured a blanket and put it over her before sitting down next to her.
"Thanks," she said. It was a little odd to have Draco taking care of her.
He shrugged, but he looked worried as he stared out at the sitting room. "I'm not sure this is a good idea anymore."
"Being on the aurors?" she asked.
"I think it's pretty clear they're trying to get to you. And if they've stopped casting the Killing Curse at you, that means they're trying to capture you," he said.
"They're still casting the Killing Curse at me, I dodged it several times tonight."
"Then why this spell?" he asked, nodding at Rachel's arm.
"No idea. Hopefully they'll find out when they question him."
"If they are trying to capture you, you're going to stop, right?"
Rachel considered that and preemptively stopped herself from shrugging because she suspected doing that was going to hurt. "I don't know. I'm not sure them trying to capture me is worse than them trying to kill me."
"It is." Draco sat quietly for a moment, his head now bowed. "For a long time, I thought what happened that night was the worst of what could happen. Then we listened to those transcripts at the trials and…we got lucky that night. It could have been much worse. If they capture you now…Rachel, there's no one to save you. They'll take you into their hiding place with the Fidelius charm and then just keep you there and torture you."
She felt slightly ill at the idea. "I'm not going to be captured. We have the entire team with us."
"But you don't. The Death Eaters keep luring you and Tonks away. We need to do something about that. Just tell me that if the Death Eaters they interrogate say that their plans are to capture you, that you're going to resign." He sounded slightly strangled now.
Rachel put her left hand on his back and patted him. "Let's see what they say and talk about how to prevent the Death Eaters from separating me from the rest of you, and everything else. Right now we don't know anything."
Draco shook his head slightly but didn't speak.
Patting him again, Rachel scooted herself down the sofa and laid down on her left hand side. She wasn't entirely sure she was going to sleep, but her body wanted to lay down. "You don't have to stay up with me."
"I'm not going to be able to sleep right now anyway," he said.
She understood that well enough. She was surprised that she felt as sleepy as she did. She closed her eyes, intending to just rest for a moment. She wasn't aware of anything after that.
Rachel was only half awake as she pieced together what had happened last night. Had she really used untested wandless magic against a Death Eater while in combat? That was a terrible idea on so many levels. For one thing, she didn't want anyone to know she could do that. For another, she knew very well never to use untested magic against another person. She could have killed that Death Eater instead of stunning them. And she had used her palm rather than her fingers, and that could have gone badly wrong as well.
The truth was she had been very lucky last night, despite the gross and painful feeling from her right shoulder to elbow. She opened her eyes and found that Draco had covered her in another blanket while she'd been asleep. She still felt a little groggy and she found that Feverfew was pressed against her stomach, Midnight was laying in the crook of her knees, and Crookshanks was peering down at her from the back of the sofa.
She sat up and found Draco sitting at the end of the sofa with his head tilted to one side against the back of the sofa while he slept. His eyes opened when she moved her legs and dislodged the cat.
"How are you?" he asked.
"Alright. If I didn't know any better I'd say they gave me a sleeping potion," she said. Usually had a much more difficult time falling asleep and a much easier time waking up.
"Probably a combination of delayed shock and the Blood Replenishing Potion. That puts most people out for a bit," he said. "How's your arm?"
Rachel lightly touched the bandage and grimaced. "Let's just say I'm glad I have a break from Quidditch because I don't think I can fly right now."
"You must be actively dying if it's keeping you off your broom."
She rolled her eyes. "No, but I don't want to be slammed by another Seeker with my arm like this."
That caused Draco to grimace. "Yeah, best to stay grounded for a bit, at least until you have the skin back."
"Did it look that bad?" she asked, peering down at her bandages.
"Couldn't tell from all the blood. It looked pretty bad."
Rachel bent down and picked up her robes from where they'd been abandoned on the floor. The right side was missing the entire sleeve and had dark blood stains. "I don't know if this is even salvageable."
"Give it to the House Elves, they might be able to do something with it," he said.
Both Dobby and Kreacher appeared, apparently having been waiting for an invitation.
"Miss was hurt," Dobby said, his large eyes fixed on her.
"Miss smells like blood," Kreacher said.
Rachel figured she probably did need a shower, but she didn't want to get the bandages wet nor did she want to stick an open wound under the running water. She might just have to live with a freshening charm for a few days. "I'm alright. I'm not badly hurt. Do you think you can do anything with this? And maybe with my shirt after I take it off?"
"Dobby will fix," Dobby said, bundling up her robes and then disappearing.
"Kreacher will fix Miss's shirt, when she is not wearing it," Kreacher said. "Miss needs a potion?"
"What time is it?" she asked.
"Quarter to eight," Kreacher said.
"You can't have another Pain Relieving potion for another five hours," Draco said.
Rachel nodded. She could live with it for now. She'd had much worse, just in different ways. At least it wasn't a burn.
"Kreacher will keep track," he said before disappearing.
"What the hell happened?" Millie asked from the doorway.
"Death Eaters," Draco said. "What else?"
Millie frowned at him before hurrying to Rachel's side. "How bad is it? Why did no one wake us?"
"It's fine. I'm just…missing some skin," Rachel said, since that was probably about the best way to describe the injury from what she understood had happened.
Millie made a face like she wanted to gag. "They took off your skin? Off all of your arm?"
"I don't know how much," she said, deciding she would ask someone else for help with bandages and Healing Salve. Both Millie and Draco were a little sensitive to blood and wounds.
"Enough," Draco said, also looking a little ill.
"Why didn't you wake us?" Millie asked Draco, leaning past Rachel to look at him.
"What would you have done if you were awake? By the time I got her home she was ready to pass out," Draco said.
"We could have sat up with her so you didn't have to do it alone," Millie said. "You don't have to do everything alone, that's why we're all here."
Draco looked mildly abashed and the fact that he didn't try to defend himself said plenty. "Well, now that you are here, I'm going to go shower. Don't let her climb the stairs on her own."
"Thank you for sitting with me," Rachel told him. "And for helping me last night."
He nodded and then left the room.
"Are you dizzy?" Millie asked. "Is that why he didn't want you to climb the stairs on your own?"
"I was last night, haven't tried standing yet," Rachel said.
"What did happen?"
"I was looking at one Death Eater and another cast a spell at me and I didn't fully dodge in time. I got lucky," Rachel said. If it had been the Killing Curse, she probably would be dead right now. She hoped Severus had been asleep through that instead of looking at the watch she'd given him.
"It's never a good day when lucky ends up with you missing skin," Millie said, making another face. "What do you want to do?"
"Change into clean clothes and use a freshening charm," Rachel said. She wasn't sure if she was up to eating just yet.
"Maybe use a damp washcloth for what the freshening charm can't get. You've got dried blood on your neck," she suggested.
Rachel sighed and got to her feet. She actually felt pretty stable, which meant the Blood Replenishing Potion had done its job. "I'm alright. No passing out or anything."
"Good. I'll walk you up, just in case," Millie said. "How many times have I watched you nearly pass out on a staircase now?"
The bad thing was that the answer was at least twice and Rachel wasn't sure that the answer wasn't more times than that. "Alright. Mostly because I don't particularly want to explain to Severus why I fell down a flight of stairs."
"Are you going to tell him about this?" Millie asked as they made their way to the staircase.
Rachel weighed that in her mind. "Depends on whether or not it makes the newspapers. I don't want to worry him for no reason. Anyway, I'm not on call for the next three days, so I have time to heal."
"That's good, I suppose," Millie said.
"Rachel? What on earth?" Hermione asked as they reached the first floor hallway.
"I was on call last night. Death Eaters. Missing some skin," Rachel summarized.
Hermione's eyes darted from Rachel to Millie and back again. "How bad is the injury?"
"Not sure, but I'm going to need some help from someone with dressing it again in a few hours. If no one here wants to do it, I can go to Severus."
"I can do it. It will be good for my Healers training," Hermione said. "When do you want to do it?"
"After lunch, so I can have a Pain Relieving Potion first," Rachel said.
Hermione nodded. "Always consider patient pain levels before a procedure and mitigate when possible," she recited. "Do you need help otherwise cleaning up? You are a bit bloody."
"That much I can do," she said. "Unless you know of a charm that means I can shower with the bandages on."
"I don't, but I will ask when my program starts meeting again in January. I know that doesn't help now, but for the general future. Are you planning to stay with the aurors after this?"
"We'll see. It depends on a few things," Rachel said.
"Of course. More information before decisions," Hermione said with a nod.
"I'm going to go change then," Rachel said, going down the hall and then into her bedroom. She gathered fresh clothes and then went into the bathroom so she could clean up in the process of changing.
Her skin was a little pale and she could see a line of grim from whatever slush puddle she'd ended up in. And she could see streaks of blood along her neck and running down from her elbow. No wonder Millie and Hermione had been horrified to see her like this. She took off her shirt and used a wet washcloth to get rid of as much grime and blood as possible. She then used a freshening charm and tied back her hair. It badly needed a wash but that would have to wait. Once she was in clean clothes, with a jumper hiding her bandages, she thought she didn't look too bad.
She dumped her dirty clothes in the hamper for the House Elves to deal with and then went downstairs and found most of the group gathered in the kitchen.
"I hear you were hurt?" Theo asked.
"Not too badly. Have some bandages. Off call for three days," Rachel said as she took a seat next to Millie.
"I'm glad it wasn't too bad," Neville said.
"You may want to brace yourself for the newspaper," Hermione said.
"What now?" Rachel asked.
"You and Theo again," Millie said, passing the front page over.
Rachel frowned down at the article. It was mostly speculation about how long she and Theo had been dating and whether or not his Death Eater ties had an influence on her. "You know, Andromeda had an interesting idea yesterday. She said if we found Rita Skeeter doing something beyond the social understanding of propriety, maybe she could be blacklisted in Britain."
Theo looked thoughtful. "Do you think we could make a case that she's harassing you?"
"She has been fixated on you for the last seven and a half years. This started when we were first years. Remember that article where she called you a squib?" Hermione asked.
She did remember. "What would even constitute harassment though?"
"Well, she's said a lot of things about you that have been proven not to be true," Neville said.
Millie nodded. "And like Hermione has said, this has been going on for years and you were under-age for most of it. Wouldn't it be worth bringing it up with Madam Bones? Or maybe even the Minister?"
"I don't want to seem like I'm complaining though," Rachel said.
"You have every right to complain," Hermione said. "And I think Theo's right. One or two articles wouldn't add up to much, but this has been constant."
"We won't know unless someone asks," Theo pointed out.
Rachel frowned down at the newspaper. She did want Rita Skeeter to stop. Maybe it was time to do something about it. Or at least, try to do something about it. "Maybe. I'll see if anyone at the MLE has any ideas. Maybe Booker would know, I know he has some MLE training."
"That seems like a good place to start," Hermione said.
She didn't know if it would help anything, but it was worth thinking about.
