A/N: Hello all! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, but both Lady Beatrice and I had a pretty busy time and didn't manage to get our act together until now. We hope you enjoy this chapter!
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Daily Prophet
November 5, 1981
Augusta Longbottom Leads Dark Force Defense League Against Remaining Death Eaters
By Thaddeus Skeeter
We have just received news this morning that should have many Death Eaters quaking in their fancy dragonhide boots. Augusta Longbottom has come out of her retirement and taken over leadership of the Dark Force Defense League from previous leader Lydia Vance. This changeover happened after Mrs. Vance was challenged to a duel by Lady Longbottom, who stated that Mrs. Vance "has less backbone than a flobberworm, and has let the Death Eaters spread their terror unopposed for far too long!" The duel was over in less than two minutes and ended when Lady Longbottom literally flattened the erstwhile leader of the League. As Mrs. Vance was being taken to St. Mungo's to be uncompressed, Lady Longbottom's only comment was, "It should have only taken one minute to oust that little Pygmy Puff. I seem to be out of practice."
As we previously reported, Augusta Longbottom's only son and his wife were victims of a retaliatory Death Eater attack led by Bellatrix Lestrange, and, despite St. Mungo's best efforts, we can now sadly report that they will likely be permanent residents of the long-term care ward due to Cruciatus over-exposure. Attacks like this have been occurring across the country as some Death Eaters stubbornly continue to attack red-headed witches, refusing to believe reports that their master is gone. Since her victory and subsequent induction, Lady Longbottom has received special dispensation from the Minister of Magic to mobilize all members of the Dark Force Defense League against those bearing the Dark Mark.
The Dark Force Defense League was once all that stood between the good wizards and witches of Britain and the dark powers who sought power over them. However, with the establishment of the Ministry of Magic and the Auror Corps, the organization became more of an academic research group shunning true action for many generations. With the formidable Augusta Longbottom at the helm, the Auror Corps may have finally acquired a powerful ally in their fight against the Death Eaters.
For more information about the history of the Dark Force Defense League, see page 7
For a list of Augusta Longbottom's accomplishments from her forty years in the World Duelling Circuit, see pages 10 to 24
~~~~~~~~~~ December 1981 ~~~~~~~~~~
It wasn't easy being dead. The worst part of it all was that magical transport was out, at least until Bathilda left England. She stared down at the funny little navy blue muggle book, which held a picture of her, strangely still and unmoving. The handwritten name on the front of the passport stated that she was one Mrs. M. Wilkins. In her head, Bathilda carefully reviewed her new persona's reasons for moving to Australia. She had just finished a series of made-up travels all over the world using muggle transportation, all dutifully made up and recorded in her equally fake passport. On her travels, she had met other long-lost descendants of one Heliotrope Wilkins, former headmistress of Hogwarts, and she had decided to settle down and write a book about her travels near the last remaining Wilkins in Darwin, Australia. Needless to say, there weren't actually any Wilkinses in Darwin - the last one had died just over five years ago - but as a batty witch who traveled with muggle transportation, no one had been able to get a hold of her to tell her about the funerals. Since Australia was always looking for more magical people, it was unlikely the magical immigration officials would question her story too closely. The line edged closer to the desk where an officer was checking the blue books, and she hoped her encounter would be short. It wasn't easy being dead.
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Due to her obvious advanced age, the staff of Qantas Airways were kind enough to let her board before the rush of muggles. The families with young children were boarding at the same time, but Bathilda was in no hurry. When she arrived at her aisle seat, it looked distinctly uncomfortable. Poking confirmed her suspicions, so she surreptitiously moved her wand down from its holster into her palm and whispered "Levamentum" to make it more comfortable. Giving the newly improved seat another poke, she decided that it was much improved and settled in with a relaxed sigh.
Soon, other passengers started to board the plane, shoving and yelling as they tried to stow their bags and find their seats. All of the noise woke many of the previously sleeping children, who started to cry, including one particular baby girl with very healthy lungs seated just behind her. Fortunately, Bathilda had been studying childcare spells quite intensively for the past month, making sure she would be up to the task of fulfilling her duties as Harry - or perhaps that should be Jamie since his new family seemed to prefer their daughter's nickname - and Hermione's new caretaker. She didn't really have much else to do, being dead and all. She might even go so far as to call herself quite an expert at this point.
With a whispered "Quies Puer," Bathilda's magic reached out and the screaming girl behind her forgot what she was crying about and snuggled back into her mother before going back to sleep. It was a derivation of the simple Notice-Me-Not charm that made the children unable to focus on what made them upset in the first place, as well as a bit drowsy. The minds of adults were too developed to be susceptible to such a simple suggestion, but a small child under the spell's influence would ignore just about everything except hunger or pain. She cast the spell on every child she could see from her seat and then settled in to enjoy the much-reduced noise level, thankful that she had magic at her disposal. It would have been a very uncomfortable flight without it.
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Bathilda Bagshot sat down heavily in the Palam Airport in New Delhi. The chair wasn't particularly comfortable, and the airport was very crowded, but at least she'd gotten some sleep on the plane thanks to a sleeping potion she had surreptitiously added to her drink. As she sat eating the hefty stuffed pancake the muggle vendor had called a 'dosa,' she smiled at a young couple and their four-year-old daughter. Clearly, the child had been sitting in a plane for far too long making her antsy. When the nearby escalators caught her eye, the child decided she was going to burn up some energy by running up and down them. The parents were taking turns escorting the child, while the other ate and relaxed. It made her feel quite sorry for the Grangers, considering they were in charge of getting two small children through the same two-day trip she was currently on. Being used to portkeys, floos, and apparition, Bathilda had never spent so much time waiting around in her entire life. How did muggles ever survive it on a regular basis!?
Pulling her to-do list from her pocket, Bathilda added, "Look into sleeping potions." Most potions weren't safe to use on small children, but if she could find anything, the Grangers would have a much more pleasant trip. Looking over the rest of it, she reviewed her first few tasks upon arrival. The first thing on her list was scouting out a new home for the Grangers. She had spoken with them before she left about what it was that they wanted, so she knew what to look for. After that, she'd need to acquire something nearby for herself as well. Once she was settled, she'd lay some notice-me-not wards around the house she picked out to make sure no other muggles decided to buy it before the Grangers arrived after Christmas.
She was also going to need to visit the local Gringotts branch to open a new account and store some of the precious few belongings that she had brought with her in a shrunken trunk. The rest of her money would then get willed into her new account via the fake will she and Albus had devised. She also needed to get to know the local magical community, and spread her cover story around a bit. Bathilda smiled as she reached an item near the end of her list - register as an official magical tutor. It was going to take a few years before the Granger children would be old enough to need tutoring, but it would look odd if they were her only students during her stay in Australia. She'd need to register with the Australian Ministry anyway if she was going to tutor them, and it wouldn't hurt for her to get back into the swing of teaching before it was time to teach them. Besides, she didn't know much about the Australian educational system or its magical community beyond what she had read, and there was no better way to learn than by teaching children. They were so full of innocent and insightful comments, and getting to know the parents would help give Har - Jamie and Hermione somewhere to get started in case they decided they wanted to work in the magical sector in a few years' time. Yes, becoming a magical tutor sooner rather than later would be a great idea.
~~~~~~~~~~ January 1981 ~~~~~~~~~~
Valeria Granger sat exhausted in the back row of the airport shuttle with her husband and their two children. Bertram was currently sleeping on her shoulder, and she was awake watching Jamie and Hermione as they played. The past few days had been some of the longest of her life as they dealt with all of the paperwork necessary to leave the country, as well as coordinating the efforts of the movers they had hired to pack their belongings to be shipped to Australia and managing the hundred other minuscule details that unexpectedly come with moving. Bertram had spent the previous day arguing with the movers about insurance, price, and, most importantly, precisely how they should pack his prized collection of Southampton football memorabilia. While Bertram was doing that, Valeria was watching the two children while finishing the last of the paperwork and sending letters off to their family with their new address. Once everything was packed and shipped off, the Grangers managed a few hours of sleep before the shuttle they booked arrived to pick them up, and here they were. Two days of travel ahead of them.
Jamie giggled across from his new parents as he and Hermione shared a picture book. Hermione couldn't yet read, but she loved to imitate her parents and sit down with a book. Harry would often point and ask, "What that?!" and Hermione would do her best to answer. Valeria hoped that the stock of books they had brought would keep the children mostly entertained for the next 48 hours of traveling, but she was not optimistic. Jamie would get fidgety and want to move around after an hour or two of sitting still, and Hermione would get upset that Jamie was upset, and then they'd both cry until someone could figure out how to calm them down. Valeria was not looking forward to entertaining children, lugging suitcases, and searching for paperwork all the way to Australia, but at least her husband would help, and they could probably trade off getting some sleep along the way. She really wished that they had more experience with this kind of thing, but neither she nor Bertram had travelled internationally before, so they didn't really know what they were doing. She hoped it all worked out okay in the end.
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The Changi airport was bustling as the Grangers stepped off the jetway. They had been travelling for well over a day and were beyond exhausted. The children had quickly gotten bored and started crying in frustration, and barely a few hours into the trip, their parents felt like joining them. The airport was lush and full of greenery, but the exhausted Grangers just couldn't find the energy to take in any of it.
Neither Bertram nor Valeria had gotten a wink of sleep, and they were starting to break under the stress. Fortunately, they found a playground for the children near their gate. They set Jamie and Hermione loose in the toddlers' section to burn off energy with the other children while they settled into a nearby bench to rest and regain some semblance of equilibrium.
After a few minutes of blissful silence, Valeria turned to her husband with a wide-eyed, slightly unhinged gaze. "What are we doing, Bertie?"
Bertram startled out of sleep and responded blearily, "What do you mean, dear?"
"What are we doing? Just two months ago, we were happily settled raising our daughter and working towards setting up our own practice. Now we're on this ridiculous journey to Australia! We don't know anyone there! We have no family! No friends! This is insane! All we have is the word of a crazy old crackpot who has promised us that it's all going to work out. And we adopted Jamie. We were having enough trouble with Hermione's outbursts. If that old man lied to us, I don't know what we'll do! We might never have our own practice!" Valeria still had the presence of mind to not yell loudly enough to attract attention, but the stress of the trip and insufficient sleep were creating a potent mixture of self-doubt and insecurity.
"Val, calm down. We've talked about this move several times over the past two months. We always decided we were doing the right thing before now." Bertram yawned. He couldn't really think logically at the moment. He was just too tired.
"I can't imagine what we were thinking! We know almost nothing about living in Australia - it's another country, one originally populated by criminals and barbarians!"
Bertram roused himself enough to turn his head and look his wife in the eye. "Valeria, it's going to be okay. We'll learn how to live in Australia. It can't be that different; we'll figure out the details when we arrive. You're just tired and can't think straight. I can't either, but that's beside the point. Let's get some sleep before the children wake up, and if you still want to melt down when we wake up, we can figure out what to do then."
He pulled Valeria onto his lap, and her mutterings slowed as she fell asleep. Bertram breathed a sigh of relief and let himself follow her, too tired to remember the two toddlers at play.
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Upon their arrival at their new home, Valeria swore loudly that they were never moving again. They had been travelling for nearly two days, she had a breakdown, and to top it all off, Jamie and Hermione had wandered off into a butterfly garden while she and her husband were napping in the Changi airport. They had spent thirty minutes madly searching for them, eventually finding them with airport personnel who returned the children with a distinctly disapproving gaze.
Their belongings had not yet arrived, and they were desperate for sleep, so they rang up Bathilda and dropped the children off with her before they pulled all of their clothing from their suitcases into a makeshift bed and fell into a blissful sleep for the next 20 hours.
Upon the arrival of their belongings, Bertram swore loudly that they were never moving again. Several of their glass items had broken, they were missing no less than three packages, several irreplaceable pieces of Southampton memorabilia had gotten scuffed up, and one of the boxes had contained a very displeased kitten, which the delivery company refused to take back since it had already been signed for.
But they had arrived, and the worst was over. The terrors of travel were over, and their new life could begin, hopefully with a great deal less stress than the past couple of months.
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A/N: We're starting to close out the opening of the story, and the meat of the story will be starting in the next few chapters. Let us know in a review if you have any interesting ideas you'd like to see. We're always open to suggestions. :)
Mr. Darcy